


Trapped Behind Bars At The Zoo

by Indehed



Series: Hyde [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Dark, Domestic Violence, Drugged Sex, Dubious Morality, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Extremely Dubious Consent, Forced Sex, M/M, Pain, Physical Abuse, Possessive Steve McGarrett, Punishment, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Abuse, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:14:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4264533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indehed/pseuds/Indehed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Covering up murder is so much easier when there are other criminals out there to take the blame and suspicion... handy for Steve, then, when hurricane Matt arrives in Honolulu for a visit, bringing behind him an FBI tail and a Colombian drug cartel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In this story, Steve will get more forceful on Danny, so the non-con elements ramp up a little more. If you've read so far, I don't think it would be an issue but for proprieties sake, I'm warning now that Steve is still as evil as he ever was and some true colors come to light.  
> And beyond the warning for non-con elements, I'd like to warn for something akin to domestic violence.

Danny stared at the computer screen in front of him and the closed report on Victor Hesse's case. It had become cold not long after the discovery of the body and had remained that way for this past week. No one was talking about who could have tortured him and there had been no physical evidence at the warehouse. If Hesse had been important, maybe more work would have gone into it, but he was a criminal and the Captain was just happy to put the case to rest. He'd already told Danny it was better - saved tax payer dollars. Told him to sign off and move onto the next case.

It still made him wonder who had left the note. It was creepy. Disturbed. That someone knew he was investigating and left Hesse for him like some kind of macabre gift. There was no reason to leave a message unless he _**wanted**_ Danny to know something. It meant, at least to Danny, that Hesse's death wasn't random, nor was it someone taking revenge against him. The death seemed to have nothing to do with Victor himself. It was about Danny. Someone had killed Hesse _**for Danny**_. It was about him.

It had brought attention to Danny that he didn't particularly want. Luckily, they'd contained the spread of the message and who it was for and none of the media outlets had found out about it, but Vice had their underwear in knots over it, thinking Danny had information that he was holding out on. 

Truth was, Danny had no idea why someone would leave such a message addressed to him. They'd wracked their brains, wondering if Danny had picked up a stalker, but in the end they figured it was just some crazed vigilante trying to say they managed to do something the police couldn't. At least, that's what went into the report, even if Danny remained unconvinced.

He remembered he'd lost his house keys that day. He'd woken up in the morning, unable to find them and had assumed he'd dropped them, maybe kicked them somewhere while he'd been drinking the night before. He'd spent most of the day in a mood over it and complaining to Meka that he really didn't need the unexpected expense of having to replace the locks and probably lose his deposit. But after a day of trying to work out why he'd garnered the attention of someone associated with Hesse and worrying that he might be some kind of target, he'd arrived home, had the Super let him in, and discovered the keys hiding under the bed. He'd been convinced he'd checked there in the morning.

Still, he'd been relieved to have found them, his brain was fried from the day and he just wanted to sack out on the sofa bed with dinner and beer and not worry about anything for the night and had shoved it all aside as a fluke, unrelated, and that no, he wasn't losing his mind and he wasn't being stalked nor had anyone been in his apartment uninvited.

Since then, his dreams had ramped up. Seemed to happen more often.

Those spaced out first few he'd had were adventurous, were a little crazy and he'd done things to himself in response to them, physically, that had surprised him. Hell, he didn't even know things like that would turn him on so much, but they had and dream Steve was utterly convincing and damn if Danny hadn't enjoyed it. Now the dreams happened almost every night and he'd grown more comfortable with them. It wasn't that he expected them, but he didn't not expect them. Even on the nights where all he could remember was them cuddling, touching, lying together and talking about anything and everything, sleepily lulled by the rise and fall of Steve's chest as he'd laid his head on it, the man's fingers carding through his hair and tickling up and down his spine.

He'd crossed his fingers that Grace's weekend with him was uneventful, that they didn't happen and if they did, they were never… physical. The last thing he'd needed was for sex dreams to happen while his little girl was around and they didn't. His brain seemed reasonably smart in that regard and that was good, though a voice in his head told him he missed Steve on those nights, that he was lonely without him. He shuddered at those thoughts, because Steve wasn't even real, just the product of stress and an over-active imagination and he couldn't let himself get so lost in an imaginary person. It wasn't healthy.

But he _**had**_ been lonely. So lonely. Beyond Grace, he had no other reason to be on this rock. Meka was the only person at the precinct to really give him the time of day still, and the only times he was ever sociable were with his partner - either going out for a few beers or having dinner with his family. The rest of his time was spent in his run down apartment that was all he could afford right now while watching TV and wishing he was with his daughter, his family, back home in Jersey, anything better than the situation he was in. 

With nothing else to help him through, it was no wonder his brain had supplied him with a fantasy to indulge.

On the plus side, he was taking vacation time as of the next day, because his brother was flying in, and he was on reasonable enough terms with Rachel for her to allow Danny time to let Grace see her Uncle Matty. 

It was only because of his excitement that he decided to close down the report on Hesse, leaving it be and doing everything he could to put thoughts of that case out of his head. He packed up for the day, making sure he had everything and headed home, telling Meka not to get into too much trouble while he was gone.

*

This was new. A new drunken low. Was he drunk? He'd had a couple of fingers of whisky while tidying up his apartment but he planned to stay with Matty at the hotel for a few days so it didn't really matter. He felt so out of it, woozy, his head felt fuzzy and giddy and he couldn't entirely see straight.

And Steve was pushing into him, his dick sliding inside with care as Danny was pressed up against the cool tiles, water cascading down over both their bodies as the steam rose from the heat. 

Was it a waking dream? An hallucination? Or was none of it actually happening and he was actually in bed asleep this whole time…

Oh God, but it felt good. Steve's body pressed close to his, dick sliding in and out, hands running soap over Danny's body and lips sucking at the back of his neck, it was all incredibly intimate.

Steve towered over Danny in a way that he didn't when they were lying in bed together. His height and build made a different impression on Danny here and it was exciting as he watched Steve wrap his fingers around Danny's wrists and push them up against the tiles.

"Gonna make me come. Gonna make me fill your ass up. You want that, don't you, want my dick stuffing you full of my cum."

"Fucking do it," Danny gritted out as Steve shifted his angle and hit Danny's prostate with every thrust, making his own dick desperate for touch. 

"Oh fuck," Steve said, voice tight. "Fuck yeah, gonna…" he sputtered, making strangled, cut off noises from the back of his throat as he came deep inside Danny, pushing his cock in as far as it would go and plastering himself to Danny's back, mouthing over his shoulder and up his neck to his ear making Danny clench. "Mine, Danny. All mine. That's my good boy, get all that come out of my dick."

He finally pulled out and fell to his knees, replacing his cock with his mouth as he ate Danny out, his tongue fucking into him, collecting cum, keeping it in his mouth. He then used fingers to pull more cum out and stood again, bringing those fingers to Danny's lips making him suck on them. He turned him, kissing him hard, letting Danny take the cum from Steve's mouth into his own. He was getting a double whammy - he got fucked hard, claimed with Steve's cum in his ass, but then he also got to taste it, to swallow it, to see Steve's proud and happy face as it disappeared from his tongue, hearing the platitudes about how well he'd done.

Steve took the shower head from its holder and brought it to Danny's ass, the jets of water pounding into him, cleaning him out. The sensation made him jerk and yelp, his own hardness still yearning for relief and being ignored in favor of a cleaning.

The water turned off, Danny felt a soft towel being dragged over his skin and he was pulled out of the shower, landing on the softness of his bed. He drifted, he was sure, because when he opened his eyes again it was to see Steve staring at him and a hand gently fondling his dick.

"You packed a bag," Steve said, matter-of-fact.

"Need to. Vacation."

"I told you before, you're not staying with your brother while he's here. You spend time with him but come home to this apartment. This bed."

"Hotel's nicer," Danny lifted his hips to Steve's touch but it was denied as Steve growled at him. 

"You've been doing so well, Danny. You've been following my direction like you're supposed to," his hand then gripped hard into Danny's dick, painfully so and it made him wince. "You belong to me, you do what I say and I say you stay here."

Danny just whimpered in response and Steve loosened his hand and began to massage up and down in circles, thumb caressing over the head on the upward strokes.

"Danny?" he asked close to his ear, keeping Danny's attention on his words as well as his hands. "Danny… promise me. Promise me you'll do as I say."

"What?" Danny asked, a little out of it as he licked his lips. His hand joined on top of Steve's as it moved, trying to get him to move faster, to hold a little tighter, to touch a little lower, to give him what he needed to get off. "Jus…. there… little…"

"Danny… you don't get to come until you promise me."

"What?"

"You do as I say. You've been so good at it, don't stop now. Remember… you come back to your apartment each night. So that you can be with me."

Danny lifted his hips but it didn't make any difference to Steve as he slowly tortured Danny with his not-quite-satisfying-enough touches and teases. His head shifted, he bit into one of Danny's nipples and it sent a surge through him, heightening his pleasure more, bringing his attention to it but he still needed so much...

Danny giggled, turning his head to the side as Steve sucked on his other nipple. "My imaginary boyfriend is jealous of my brother…"

"Shhhhh, shhh," Steve rose up again, a shadow following over Danny's face. "Just do as I say, just promise me, because I know you want it…" He stepped up his erotic attack on Danny, getting to his knees for better angles and strength, his hand working Danny's cock furiously while his other played with his balls and headed to his ass, a finger going into his hole all while he used his lips, teeth and tongue on Danny's nipples while intermittently talking to him. 

Danny bucked up, he moaned, breathed out a 'fuck yeah' or 'oh fuck' on almost every exhale. 

"Say it, Danny, tell me what I want to hear. What you want to say. Just promise me and you get to come."

"Okay, just… yes, okay, I'll come back here, we can have sex, just… please, just…fuck," Danny came hard, whole body tightening, his breath stopping in his throat as his dick pulsed and released over Steve's hand and onto his own stomach, matting in the hair there. 

His head fell back onto the pillow, a sweaty mess despite the scent of his shower gel that still lingered around them. 

Steve gently brushed fingers through his hair, calming him back down. "That's it. Well done, baby. Always so good for me."

Danny turned into Steve's arms, holding out for a moment, tense, but then slumping happily against Steve as he put his arms around Danny in return and held him close. It was in these moments after when Danny truly wished it was real. This kind of intimacy was what he missed from being in a real relationship. Maybe he needed to get out more, meet new people. Go to a bar.

But a voice in his head told him he shouldn't. That coming home was better and there was something in it that he agreed with, that he felt was truly better for him. 

"Steve…." he sighed, content. 

"Rest," Steve answered. "And remember. You don't talk to anyone about us. Not even your brother."

*

Danny looked around his bathroom, confused. He could have sworn he'd had a shower late the night before, but the towels were unused and hanging in place and… no, wait. Dream. So it had been another one of his dreams. 

The feeling of being pushed against the tile and a hot, hard dick shoving into him seemed so vivid, but everything else from last night was just in snippets of moments, images, feelings… he had a vague sense that he'd promised someone something but it wasn't quite there anymore in his head. 

No matter. Today he was on vacation. Today his brother was arriving. 

He drove to the airport in a happy mood, his ass only slightly annoying him in sensitivity from too many nights of fingering himself, and waited patiently for his little brother to land. 

Not so little. Matty dwarfed him in height but he'd always be the little brother that Danny had to teach lessons to. 

Once at the hotel, they'd finally been able to sit down and catch up, Matty looking forward to seeing his niece the next day. Before they knew it, the sun was down, the beers were running low and it was so late that Matt insisted on Danny sleeping over with him. 

He'd tried to beg off, a feeling deep in his gut telling him that, despite his desire to spend as much time as possible with his brother, that he wanted to go to his tiny, depressing apartment and to the bed he was most familiar with. But he tamped down on it, fought the urge, and decided that he was being stupid as he fell asleep on the pull out couch.


	2. Chapter 2

The night had been easy and calm, had a difference to it that Danny was not used to. Putting it down to the change in location was fine and he felt no need to delve further into whether or not he missed being at his own place.

His brother was here, his family. He was smiling more than he had done since arriving in Hawaii.

Matt was like a hurricane of enthusiasm. He wanted to have fun, to enjoy their time together, to do everything possible and wear them all out. 

Danny had picked Grace up from Rachel's, his daughter excited and bouncing to see the uncle she missed and they arrived back at Matt's hotel room to find he'd dug a bunch of toys and all things pink out of his suitcase and displayed them for Grace to see as soon as she entered the room. 

"I thought we talked about not spoiling her," Danny warned though there was no bite to his words.

"I'm not spoiling her. I'm just playing catch up since it's been months since we played together, that's all," Matt's cheeky smile answered and Danny watched with pride as his little brother and his daughter interacted so joyfully. 

He refused to hate on Rachel for taking all of them away from a family like this, he didn't want to think bitterly while he was happy, but the thought was always there in the back of his mind about just how much he missed Grace having this in her life. How he missed having it in his own. 

They spent the day together, playing in the room, they went to the pool and hung out for a while and then Matt took out on a cheesy tour of Waikiki before they wound up at Tropics having dinner. They reminisced, shared stories and made fun of each other and Grace loved to laugh at Matt's jokes and then, full from her meal and lulled by the setting sun, she began to drift off. She may have loaded up on soda that night, but she'd had a full and exciting day that had worn her out. 

"I should get her back to Rachel's."

"You could all stay here," Matt suggested. 

"No, she needs a proper bed. I'll get her home and then call it a night."

"Okay, bro. Call me in the morning, we'll organize something. How do you feel about golf?"

"Sure, I can do that. You're paying though, right?"

"Cheapskate," Matt shot back jokingly, but it was true that Danny didn't have a lot of disposable income and rounds of golf out here were expensive. Matt had the flashy job, so he could be the one to splash the cash this week.

As Danny lifted Grace into his arms, he spotted two guys over at the bar who had been watching. He recognized them from earlier, convinced he'd seen them on the tour bus. Maybe it was a coincidence. A hotel full of tourists… they were bound to see each other out doing touristy things, but he got a vibe from them. A vibe that said they were watching him, or Matt and they were doing it purposely. 

He thought back to Victor Hesse's death and the note left for him in blood on the floor. He definitely had someone watching him, maybe he'd just caught them out. 

But with his hands full of a sleeping Grace, he didn't dare approach them, to corner them and find out what he could. He had his daughter to think about so despite the bad feeling pooling in the pit of his stomach, he let it go for now. If they were watching Matty, then they'd still be doing so the next day. And if they were watching or following him, then once he was alone again he'd have the time to question them. 

He drove Grace home, handing her off to her mother, sharing polite conversation about what they'd done that day and then he was off, thoughts occupying him on his way home of who or what might be behind him. He checked for tails, he weaved a little through different streets on his way home but never spotted anyone following. 

His thoughts distracted him as he locked the car behind him and went up the steps to his front door. He barely got through it when he was grabbed, an arm tightening around his neck and keeping his struggles at bay, then he felt a sharp stab into his ass, like he was being bitten. He got woozy, quickly. His vision began to blur, his head felt light and his body heavy. 

Was this to do with the guys he'd seen? Were they after him?

He struggled to keep thinking, to concentrate and he lost the ability to keep his muscles taut.

As he stopped fighting the hold around him, he was flung unceremoniously onto the floor.

Lying on his back, he looked up into the light fixture and it was blinding. He didn't know what was happened as a shadow crossed over him and he was able to blink up into the familiar dream-like face of Steve standing angrily over him, his moment of relief at it not being one of the two faces he'd seen at the Tropics bar was short lived in the face of dark eyes and angry, thin lips.

Steve straddled Danny, sitting over his hips and pinning him down. A hand clutched at his neck and he tried to prize those fingers off so that he could breathe. Face turning red and already spluttering, desperate for air, the hand only tightened its hold. He wriggled, lifted his knees trying to throw off the weight on him but he couldn't do it. 

Steve bent close to his ear. "You disobeyed me," he growled, his voice full of menace. 

He lifted Danny's head then banged it against the floor, dazing him. His already cloudy mind was made worse by the dull pain at the back of his skull and inability to focus on what was happening as Steve lifted up, leaving him to flounder on the floor.

"You were doing so well, Danny. Responding deliciously to me, but every so often you fight back against what I want you to do. You can't do that, Danny. You'll make me change the levels, maybe up the dosage and when I experiment, my guinea pigs don't enjoy it." He strode back over to Danny, grabbed a handful of his hair and lifted, forcing Danny to move with him if he wanted to not have the hair ripped out of his head. 

He was standing. A hand on Steve's, trying to keep him from pulling further, his other hand on Steve's chest. "Please…. what…."

"This is your own fault, Danny. I told you there would be consequences if you didn't do what you were told. I have to follow through." He shoved Danny in the direction of the kitchen and he stumbled as he walked, trying to steady himself against the furniture.

He wasn't sure what was going on, where he truly was, as Steve's voice surprised him in how close it was to his ear… or closer. Felt like it was inside his head. 

"Turn on the stove," he was ordered. 

He didn't do anything at first, still confused, slow, half-blinded by the blur in his eyes; some of which was tears he hadn't realized had begun spilling. 

"Turn. On. The stove," was ordered again and he fumbled out, his hand finding one of the knobs and turning it as the orange glow from the electric cooker-top began to warm the surface. 

Steve thrust his hips forward, boxing Danny in against the counter from behind and he could feel how hard Steve was in his pants. 

"Shhhhhh," Steve soothed him, lips sucking and kissing the back of his neck, hands rubbing up and down his arms and he began to feel a sense of calm, of feeling taken care of. The Steve he'd always enjoyed having in bed with him. The dream Steve he always wanted rather than the nightmare that had greeted him on his return to his apartment. 

His shirt was unbuttoned slowly, hands playing underneath, fingers tweaking at his nipples and then his shirt was pulled off and Steve was able to touch every inch of his chest and back as he slowly began a rhythmic thrusting of his pelvis into Danny's hips. 

He licked along Danny's neck, kissing, teeth scraping over his skin and up to his ear. "That's it, that's my good boy, doing everything you're asked to do…. so good for me…."

Steve absently teased fingers down Danny's arm, from his shoulder and down the biceps, circling over his elbow and lower, fingertips tickling against the soft side of his forearm and holding. He lifted Danny's left arm, brought it up to his lips and kissed against his wrist reverently while Danny watched and then closed his eyes and hummed at the sensual feel.

"Actions have consequences, Daniel," Steve whispered seductively in Danny's ear and he tilted his head, barely taking in the words spoken to him, lulled by the cadence. 

The grip on his wrist tightened and in a split second his hand was manipulated down and held against the heat of the stove. Fingers splayed apart and pressed to the burning hot surface and it sent shockwaves of panic through him. He began to scream, to cry out, and a hand covered his mouth, dulling the sound, stopping it almost entirely from being heard outside of the tiny apartment. 

For only seconds his hand was held in place, being burned, scorched by the fiery heat, but Steve let up and took it off before Danny's skin could fuse with the stove top. He held it up in front of Danny's eyes and shook him, slapping at his face, making him pay attention. 

"You did this to yourself," Steve warned as Danny did his best to simply breathe, mouth open, tears streaming down his cheeks and hand visibly shaking in Steve's grasp as he took in the bright red welts and blistering; the charred parts of his skin, the sound of it still sizzling like some twisted barbecue. "Look at it, look how you hurt yourself when you don't follow orders."

Danny didn't fight, he was just lost over what to do. His hand hurt like no pain he'd ever felt before and he knew it wasn't even being burned still but the pain and heat radiated from it continuously and he needed relief desperately but none was forthcoming. All he could do was stare at the center of his agony in shock. 

Which was why he didn't even noticed that his pants were at his ankles, and Steve was shoving his cock into his ass. The sting and sharpness of it was nothing compared to that of his hand, the way his fingers were beginning to shrivel inward like damaged claws.

He found himself face down over the counter, chest pressed against the hard surface, cheek mashed on it and facing towards the heat of the stove which was more pronounced than he'd have thought possible, the tendrils of heat visible as they rose from it. Beads of sweat on his forehead, breathing labored and harsh out of his nose and mouth and a mind unable to focus and yet, he was aware of the wet smudge of lube around his hole from Steve's cock as it plunged in and out of him, hand holding him down by the back of his neck, another gripping into his hip.

He whimpered, a sob emitted from somewhere at the back of his throat along with a high pitched whine, and a trail of saliva reached the counter as he struggled to control anything about himself or the situation, the throb in his hand outweighing every other concern.

"Fuck, so tight. Fucking turn me on so much, just look at you," Steve ground out as his hips cracked against Danny, the smacking of his balls on his ass constant as he pounded in over and over seeking only his own pleasure. He pulled out, jacking himself furiously and Danny could hear the wet slapping and then Steve crying out as he came. 

Danny stayed still on the counter, unsure what to do. "Please…" he said quietly, not even heard as he stared at his hand, still unbelieving over what had happened and yet fully aware of the pain, even of the acrid smell of burned flesh as it was so close in front of him.

Steve's hand touched it, making him wince, and it slid down the inside of his fingers leaving behind a wet, pearly substance that did nothing to cool or soothe the burn. 

A mouth was at Danny's ear again, telling him what to do. "Lick it up, Daniel. Lick it all, enjoy it and then we'll get you some help."

Danny lifted his hand shakily to his mouth. The touch of his tongue wasn't helping. It was warm and the last thing he needed was heat, but he trailed his tongue over the drops of cum and did his best to show he liked it even though a large part of him was fearful and shaken and sexual desire was at the bottom of his list of needs right now. 

"That's it, baby," Steve rested his head beside Danny's, his whole body bracketing Danny in. "Eat it. Such a slut for my cum."

Ear to ear, Steve and Danny were both able to watch as Steve's fingers curled around Danny's wrist again. He moved Danny's hand and made it hover over the stove ring, the heat rising from it irritating his abused flesh. He whimpered and began to plead with Steve not to do anything else. 

"I'm sorry…. so sorry, I won't…. I just…. don't do it, please," Danny spoke, desperate to not be in pain anymore.

"Hush," Steve told him as he loosened his hold and Danny took the opportunity to pull his hand back into himself, protectively. "This was just a warning, Danny. Imagine what I'd do to you if I was really mad."

He pushed up and away, giving Danny a moment, sniffing, trying to control his sobs and tears but then Steve slapped his ass hard, the sting remaining.

"Come on, let's take care of you," he said, reaching out to turn the stove off as Danny watched. 

He manhandled Danny to stand and turned him. He tried to wrestle Danny's hand out of where it was tucked into his chest but it was difficult as Danny just didn't believe it was over, or that Steve was trying to help. 

Hands cupped his cheeks. "Baby, come on, it's okay. Look," Steve turned the tap on in the sink and plugged it so that the cool water could pool in the basin. "This will feel good, trust me. It'll help. Just trust me, okay? I only want what's best for you," he encouraged, a smile and sympathy plastered to his face and despite being wary, Danny desperately needed the cool of something to quell the heat and throb as his hand still felt like it was on fire. 

He shuffled closer to the sink and gingerly let his hand sink into the water, the cool instantly helping, making him sigh with relief. 

Kisses were peppered over his face and hair and arms held him close and strong but without any hostility or dark ulterior motive. "It's okay,I'm right here, I'm going to take such good care of you, always. I just want what's best for you."

His tear trails were wiped away by soft fingertips, a hand on his back rubbed in soothing circles and Steve repositioned himself from Danny's side to behind him again. The water from the tap was the only sound in the room beyond Danny's breathing and the soft slurp of Steve's kisses. 

A hand made its way lower, skirted around Danny's hip and down, fondling his dick and he tried to pull away from the touch but didn't have enough space to do so. "I'm just going to make you feel better, baby."

"I don't-" Danny started, trying to let Steve know he didn't want sex right now; he was worn out from the shock of his injury, and his head hurt and his heart still raced and he worried about how he would heal. 

"You made me feel good, Danny. Your ass is so perfect, you made me come so hard, I just want to return the favor. Make you feel just as good. Get hard for me, come for me…. show me just how much you appreciate what I do for you…"

Danny's head fell, his chin tucking into his chest. He didn't want to but he had to, it was best if he did what Steve wanted.

"Look at this dick hardening in my hand. Fuck, you turn me on so bad, if I could get hard again so soon I would. I would and I'd fuck you so hard. I'd shove my dick in and just listen to you moan needing more, desperate for me, needing me. Shit, look at how much you need me, baby. Should never be alone at night without me."

Steve jerked him off, teasing and squeezing. He propped his chin on Danny's shoulder, looked down and spat, glob of saliva falling down the front of Danny's body and landing on his stomach before Steve wiped it up and used it to help ease the friction. 

"Fuck, yes, look at that, hard dick ready to come for me, come on, baby, show me that cum, show me what I do to you, what only I can do for you," Steve kept talking, encouraging, and Danny let his words flow over him, let them help him get closer until his balls drew up and he was coming, seeing it cover Steve's hand only to be wiped on his thigh and between his legs, small amounts then going into the sink with Steve's hand as he checked how Danny's burn was doing. 

"There… you feel much better now, don't you, baby," Steve whispered into his ear.

Small splashes in the water and Danny's hand was exposed to the air again. He didn't like it being able to heat in the charged air of sex and Hawaiian sun but he had little choice other than to do what Steve wanted, his whole body weakened further from the rush of orgasm. 

He lost his footing, his own weight too much for him and he collapsed, Steve's strong arms catching him, lifting him, carrying him to his bed where he was laid down. 

"Bandage," he tried to get back up but Steve pushed him to lay again. 

"No, burns need the air to heal. You shouldn't cover them, I'll get you some ointment from the bathroom," he told him and Danny lay trying to rest until Steve returned. The balm helped alleviate more of the heat in his roasted skin, the tightness of the blisters and welts and the way his skin seemed to shrivel and lock his fingers into a position that didn't pull on the tendons. Steve was tender in his administration, generous with the cream and soft with his touches.

He ran his clean hand over Danny's still flushed face and shushed him before standing from the bed. He went to the foot and began to take the last of Danny's clothing from where it had bunched at his ankles. Shoes, socks and pants all fell to the ground as Danny was laid out naked on the bed. 

When Steve returned again, he had something in his hand. A needle. 

Danny tried to lift his head, to say no, to refuse it but Steve applied just a little bit of pressure to his shoulder and he caved, lying down. 

"It's just to help with the pain, Danny, it's okay," he said before inserting the sharp needle at the crook of his elbow and emptying the contents into Danny's system. 

Whatever it was, it acted fast. Danny didn't just feel woozy but he felt… high. He was even able to smile at the sensations rolling through his body and his hand wasn't a concern anymore. 

"What was that?" he asked, because he could damn well use it again if he got hurt. 

"It's nothing, just to help, to take away the pain and to help you forget a little, too." Steve ran his hands over Danny's body, like he would stroke a pet as Danny began to drift off. "I know you won't remember much of this in the morning, won't know how you hurt yourself but you will remember a feeling, Danny. A feeling deep down inside that reminds you you were punished for doing something wrong. Actions have consequences, Danny. Disobey me again and you will regret it."


	3. Chapter 3

There was no way it was a dream. No way had he done anything like this to himself while sleepwalking. He'd have woken, no matter what. There was no way he could go through something like that and not wake up, which meant it was real. Something had happened to him the night before and he had no recollection of it. 

He stared into the bathroom mirror and saw an almost haunted look in his eyes. He had thinned down these last few months in Hawaii due to the stresses in his life, a lack of appetite (a lack of decent food on this rock) and a strange sleep pattern that always left him feeling like he hadn't actually slept at all. But today he looked truly bad and had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach like he'd done something wrong.

He laved ointment over his red and blistering hand then began wrapping a bandage tightly around it. Burns needed air, something he vaguely remembered knowing about, but he couldn't go about his life with his skin exposed while it was this badly damaged. He wouldn't be able to touch things without hurting and seeing just how bad it was might worry the people in his life who gave a damn about him and he didn't want them to be so concerned. 

He could do all the worrying for everyone. No one need truly know, so long as he could stop the slight shaking.

He got ready absently while trying to wrack his brain for what had happened. He'd arrived home, he was sure of it. He'd parked his car in his usual spot, waited a few moments to see if he'd had a tail and then-

Wait.

The guys. The two guys who he'd clocked behind them yesterday. Whether they were following Matt or Danny was unclear and Danny had begun to feel like they were after his brother but maybe not. Maybe it had been him. Maybe they'd tracked him until he was alone and then… then what? Attacked him? Chloroformed him maybe. 

Perhaps there were other drugs involved. All sort of drugs might include some kind of memory loss so it was perfectly possible. 

The only question was that if he'd been attacked, why was only his hand injured? And why had they attacked him?

For information? Had he been forced to tell them something and his lack of physical injuries besides his hand was proof that he'd done as asked and told them what they wanted to know? The thought actually sickened him - he never gave up information. Never. He didn't give in to criminals. He'd lost a partner by not giving up information on a case and he couldn't back down ever again or her death would have been for nothing. He had vowed to remain strong in the face of bullies forever more to give her death meaning. He couldn't believe that he'd give up anything.

Perhaps that was why his hand was injured. Because he hadn't given anything up. Maybe they'd been interrupted and had to abandon their, what, torture? And would continue to try and get what they wanted by other means. Maybe killing Danny now would go against their plans. Maybe they'd be back to try again and he'd be ready for them, vigilant.

He was getting carried away. He needed to be logical about this and leave the speculation until he had more evidence. He was a cop and right now that was what he needed to be. He needed to launch an investigation, but he couldn't include the precinct as they wouldn't believe him. Even his hand didn't mean he'd been attacked and as the outcast in the group it might seem like he was attention seeking. His hand could have been (and most likely was) injured in his own home like so many statistics would say happened all the time. He didn't know how long certain drugs remained in your system, but to get a doctor to agree to check on a 'hunch' wasn't going to work. 

So what he had was… a gaping hole in his memory, a bad feeling about two guys he'd seen following him the day before and a hand that was badly burned and ached to high heaven. None of it made sense. This was going to take time.

Right now, he had to break the news to Matty that he wouldn't be able to play golf that morning.

*

Kono strode into the bathroom and peered through the frosted glass. "Hey boss, Chin wants to see you."

"I'll be there in a minute," Steve answered and knocked against the glass when he saw her peering through at him. 

She leaned on it and smiled, not caring about openly watching him. "Hey, so, I hear you got pissed off last night. This guy's really getting to you, huh?"

Steve opened the door and stepped out, grabbing a towel to dry himself as he spoke. "I don't know if it's the drug or him, but he's hit and miss on the persuasion. And you know how I get when my plans go off track."

"Well, I think Chin found a way to get them back _**on**_ track and he's got a bit of an itchy trigger finger on this one," she teased him as she left, patting him on the ass as she went past. 

By the time Steve arrived downstairs clad in just a pair of board shorts, Kono was out surfing and Chin was standing waiting for him. 

"I want this one," Chin said, and as an opening gambit it was quite strong. 

"What's going on?" Steve put his hand out and Chin dropped a file onto his palm. "Is this the stuff I asked for?"

"Yes. Everything I've found so far on Matthew Williams. He's Wall Street."

Steve nodded his head. "Which is why you want to take lead on this one."

"And not just that. He's proper Wall Street scum. Made some bad deals, lost a ton of money. Millions. Kept digging himself into deeper and deeper holes and the FBI have been watching."

"FBI?" Steve looked up from what he was reading. "That's not good. I don't need FBI watching Danny, they'll get in the way and then we have to deal with agents and it could mean moving sooner than expected. I hate moving."

"I'm still digging into the FBI database for more on him, but it does look like they sent a couple of agents out here following him."

"Does Danny know any of this?"

Chin shrugged. "You tell me, you're the one watching him all the time. But I doubt it. I'm not even sure Matthew knows the FBI are onto him."

"He's got to be in Hawaii for a reason," Steve mused. "And it can't just be to see his brother. Keep digging."

"WIll do," Chin said. "And about the first thing?"

"When the time comes, you can do the honors. I owe you that much after all the work you're putting into this one for me," Steve could be gracious at times, he didn't have to have all the fun. Besides, he'd still watch, still maybe even be there for it, to hear the screaming and the pleading. He just wouldn't deliver the blows was all. And there would be plenty more people to hurt. There always was.

"Thanks, boss," Chin smiled happily as he sauntered off back to his computers.

*

Matt had decided to go golfing without Danny and meet him at the clubhouse after his round, which gave Danny some time to try and work things out. Looking at his wrapped hand and then at the clock on the dash he figured he had a good three hours to do that before meeting his brother. 

He made his way back to the Hilton and to Matt's room. Luckily, his brother had given him a key for it; expecting Danny to have been staying with him during his visit. 

When he got there, it was to find the door already on its hinges and no housekeeping trolley nearby. He took his gun from its holster and kept it steady as he pushed the door open. "HPD!" he called out as he went in and immediately the two men in the room drew their own guns.

"FBI! Stand down!" one of them yelled back and Danny kept his gun up on one of them and refused to back down. 

"Show me your badges."

"Stand down, Williams," the other one warned him.

"Badges!" Danny shouted again and carefully the one without Danny's gun pointed at him lowered his weapon and took out his badge. 

Danny narrowed his eyes, not entirely trusting but slowly lowered his own weapon. "What the hell are you doing in my brother's room?"

It didn't make any sense to him. If these guys had attacked him last night then they couldn't be FBI, and yet, now that he saw them close up, now that he'd seen the badges, they certainly had the bearing of feds.

"Your brother is a person of interest in an FBI investigation."

"What does that mean? What is that? You think he did something wrong?"

"We know he did something wrong, Detective. Has he said anything to you about his business or why he's in Hawaii?"

"What? No, what are you…? He's here on vacation."

"What happened to your hand?" The other one asked, eyes set and trying to judge what Danny was hiding. He knew all the techniques, he used them himself to know when someone wasn't being entirely truthful about their involvement, so it wasn't going to affect him.

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "It was-" he stopped himself. These guys were feds, even bad ones wouldn't risk attacking someone like Danny. They genuinely seemed clueless on the issue and seemed to be insinuating that Danny had got it in relation to something his brother had done. Like they thought Danny was dirty and had paid for it somehow. 

No. These guys hadn't hurt him at all. It wasn't them. 

One of them pointed at Danny's hand. "Whoever your brother is involved with has reach. And they don't play nice. I suggest you tell your brother to play ball with us or the result will be a lot worse than an injured hand."

They brushed past him, making a show of leaving a card on the table with their contact details.

What the hell did they think Matty had done?

He looked at his hand, confused. Was someone after Matty and taking it out on Danny somehow?

Danny got to the golf course just as Matt was finishing up an shaking hands with his course partner and Danny took an instant dislike to the man - South American, rich looking with two bodyguards in eyeshot and a smarmy smile on his face. 

Matt didn't allude to anything when he got back to Danny nor did Danny ask, instead he resolutely tried to enjoy their lunch together while on the lookout for anything suspicious, dodging a question of what he did to his hand with a flimsy excuse of burning it on the stove at home. 

*

"Columbians," Chin told Steve.

"What are we talking here, drug dealers?" 

"I should think so. Best guess is that Matthew Williams has been doing some money laundering for them. Probably trying to get back all that money he lost in any way possible."

"And just digging himself in deeper and deeper the longer it goes on," Steve supplied. "And endangering his brother as he does so. I don't need this to come back onto Danny. We need to fix this, since the FBI seem so unable to."

"So who are we taking out?"

"All of them," Steve said, resolutely. "Let's get everything ready."

*

He'd done his best to stay light and unencumbered throughout the day but there was no way to convince his younger brother that there wasn't something on his mind. Well, something beyond issues with Rachel and Hawaii and HPD.

It was dark and they were back in the hotel room when Danny, sick of the sideways glances, finally leaned forward in his chair. "Okay, Matty, you gotta tell me what's going on."

"What do you mean? I thought we were having a good time."

"I mean with work and with you. I mean I know you're in some kind of trouble and I need to know why you wouldn't come to me about it."

Matt leaned back and rubbed his face. "I'm not gonna involve you, bro. You've got enough on your plate and my screw up doesn't need to be added to the pile."

"So you're admitting you screwed up," Danny said. "Except it's more than just a 'screw up' when the FBI are getting involved Matt."

"How did you know about that?"

"Because they talked to me, okay! They think you're going to get hurt. Or I am or maybe some innocent bystander. Did you think about anything like that when you got involved in whatever this is? Did you think about mom and dad?"

"I dunno, I thought I was, I thought I'd be able to fix things, but then something else happened and worse and fixing things got harder and harder… you've gotta help me, Danny. I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

"Hey," Danny reached out and clasped his brother's wrist. "We'll fix it, okay? We'll fix it together, I promise you, but you've got to do what I tell you to." He looked directly into Matt's eyes. "You've got to go to the FBI and tell them what you know. What you've done. Everything."

"I'll go to jail," Matt's eyes pleaded with Danny. "I'll go to jail and I won't survive that, Danny."

"Yes, you will. You will because you're a Williams and you've got me looking out for you. Just like always. I can call in some favors, we can get you somewhere that's not so bad. You need to do the right thing. Who are you involved with?"

"Colombians," Matt admitted. "I've been doing their books for them."

"Laundering? Matty…." Danny moaned. "You stupid son of a-"

"I know. I know," he said as he held onto Danny's arm in return. "They're bad guys, Danny. If I go to the FBI, they'll find out and they'll kill me."

"No, they won't. I won't let them. We'll get you to safety," Danny said as he stood. "Listen, hey, Matty," he crouched in front of him again. "I've gotta go, okay? I have a feeling that they're watching and they can't think anything is wrong."

"What do you mean watching? The Colombians?"

"I think so, look, I can't go into it right now," he glanced at his burned hand and Matty followed the movement and gasped, catching on quickly to what Danny was thinking. "I just can't give them a reason to think you're turning State's evidence. And maybe I can draw the eyes away a little."

"No, you should stay. Safety in numbers and all that, right?"

Danny shook his head. "I'll be back in the morning. I need to spend tonight at home," he felt something stir in his stomach, something like a bad feeling but like he was doing the right thing at the same time. He couldn't explain it, wasn't sure he wanted to. "Everything's going to be alright."

As he left, he flexed his hand in its bindings and it gave him flashes to the night before, the feeling of the burning pain ricocheting through his body, and of threats that it was some kind of punishment. He was headache-y and sweaty like he had some kind of low-grade fever but he blamed the stress of everything to do with Matty. He knew he couldn't risk staying. Knew he couldn't risk not going home. Knew it, deep inside, like something he couldn't quite remember.

*

There were two and they weren't FBI. Those guys were by the bar again in garish Hawaiian shirts. No, these two were something else and after using Chin's tech to run facial recognition they'd hacked from HPD, they'd discovered they were Colombian. Some more digging and Chin was sure they worked for the Reyes cartel and as such, were a legitimate target and a threat to Steve's plans. 

It was easy. The two Colombians weren't expecting an attack from a third party. They were both dead in the bushes with broken necks before the drinks Steve had ordered had arrived at their table. 

He sat himself down beside Chin and lifted the beer bottle to his lips, absently noting the dirt on the back of his hand from where he'd dragged the two men into the towel locker, to be discovered tomorrow morning once it was light enough to bring out the tourists to the poolside. 

After Danny had gone home - something that Steve had been smug about as he'd watched the Camaro disappear down the road - Matt had come down to the bar to drown his sorrows. He seemed skittish, eyes everywhere and shoulders raised expecting the Colombians or the FBI to swoop in on him. 

After killing those two men and knowing what Chin had planned, it was enough to make Steve's dick take notice. He did love how a kill got his motor running, and the expectation of another was like foreplay. It made his blood race and yet here he was, sitting calmly and drinking a beer while trying to keep the smile off his face.

He glanced over at Chin but his eyes were on Matthew as he watched the man drinking at the bar. "Chin, I believe this is your cue."

"What are you going to do?" Chin asked, hands rubbing together idly.

He reached down and palmed the front of his pants. "I've got a hard dick that fits perfectly into Danny's mouth." He slammed his empty beer bottle on the table.

"Have fun."

"You, too."


	4. Chapter 4

Danny woke with an expectation of there being someone in his bed with him. He even reached to the sides to the cold sheets beside him and felt his heart sink with disappointment and yet, of course there was no one there. 

Though he definitely had a foul taste in his mouth that made him rub at his tongue and run it under his top teeth. And his throat was sore like he'd been shouting all night or had been at a smokey club and yet he hadn't done either of those things. 

He sighed as he lay there staring at the ceiling and noting the tacky, dried substance on his thighs from where he'd clearly had another wet dream that he barely remembered. 

Back in New Jersey, while he'd been going through his divorce, Matty had come by his motel room every night and sat with him. Both of them had nursed beers or whiskeys or whatever was on offer at the local liquor store and then he'd get up in the morning and go to work. He'd believed he needed those evenings with Matty and alcohol or he'd never get any sleep and never be able to do his job. That was until he'd realized he'd been suffering from a depression and lying to himself about it and had done everything he could to snap out of it. It had taken all of his willpower to do so. That, and a smile from his beloved daughter. 

Now he worried he was slipping back into that, only there was no Matt here to sit with him every night. All he had was his imagination and his right hand. He could almost cope with that, if not for the knowledge that Matt was in trouble and it was hanging over both of their heads now and Danny wasn't in the greatest of positions at HPD to be as trusted with the truth of the situation - as he would have been back in Newark.

He climbed out of bed, picked up the empty bottle that used to have bourbon in it and winced as it clinked into the garbage. He should put a stop to it. He should chuck all the alcohol he had and not allow its temptation. It had become too easy to come home from work, pour two fingers and close his eyes to the imagined sensation of Steve climbing into the bed next to him.

He was buttoning up his shirt when there was a knock on the door. He opened it to Meka's downcast look. 

"What's up? We get a case? Captain remembers I'm on vacation, right?" Danny asked and Meka still didn't crack a smile. 

"I'm sorry, Danny," he started and Danny got that sinking feeling. A cop on your doorstep saying they were sorry about something was never good. "They found your brother this morning."

"Back up. What…. what are you talking about. Matty's fine, he's at the hotel."

"Danny, he…" Meka cleared his throat. "He was in the water when they found him."

"Matty?" Danny took an unsteady step back into the apartment, worried he'd lose his footing and his breakfast but then everything inside him changed and he charged past Meka. "Matty," he said again, aiming for his car before realizing he didn't have the keys. He turned and ran smack into Meka's chest. "Take me to him. Right now."

"Okay, buddy, okay," Meka said, gesturing for him to get into his car. 

They pulled up outside the Hilton and Danny ran through the stalls in the village market and past the pool area and stood by the bar looking out onto the beach. Further down, almost in front of the next hotel they saw the yellow tape of a police cordon and he was running again, desperate to get to it. 

"Matty!" he yelled as he got close but was stopped by Lukela, who held him back until Meka could catch up and take over, holding Danny's arms and not letting him through to see the body underneath the black tarp. "It's not Matty. It can't be."

"Detective Williams," one of the FBI douches came up to the tape, notepad in hand and a demeanor that made it seem like a hardship for him to do his job and come to the crime scene in the first place. 

"What did you do?" Danny struggled to free himself from Meka and Duke's grasps. "What did you do?!" he yelled out again. 

"We didn't do anything! I warned you that this kind of thing would happen if he didn't work with us."

"He was going to, you son of a bitch, he was coming with me today to sort this out!" Danny growled, tears on his cheek he hadn't realized had fallen from his eyes. "You were watching him, why didn't you stop any of this?"

"Where were you last night, Detective?" the agent ignored the accusation.

"With Matt, then home. You saw me, you must have because I saw you."

"Can anyone corroborate that?"

"What? No, I was at home… what, you think I did this? I came back and killed my brother? How DARE you!"

"Your brother wasn't the only one killed last night, Detective. We've also got two low-level Colombian drug runners dead by the pool."

"And you think I killed them? So what, I doubled back unseen and killed two guys without anyone noticing? Me? The haole that sticks out like a sore thumb that you were purposefully looking out for?"

"He's got a point," the other fed said. 

"No he hasn't," the first one argued back. "Someone had to kill them and do it without being caught by the security cameras. There's no reason to discount Williams. Maybe he's got more skills than we thought. Or maybe he had someone else do his dirty work for him. Word around these parts is that you've got some kind of vigilante killing for you. Maybe it's not so much about helping you solve cases as it is you paying for it."

"You sick asshole," Danny ground out. "You don't even know what you're talking about. Please just let me see my brother," he pleaded and everyone nodded and allowed Danny through but Meka was right there to make sure he didn't do anything wrong or contaminate the scene. 

He crouched by the body bag and looked at Bergman. "What happened, Max?"

"My preliminary examination would point to asphyxiation as a cause of death."

"He didn't drown?"

"I don't think so. He was already dead before he hit the water. There are other markings on his body, perhaps burned into his skin as some form of torture. He was also…. beaten," Max looked up and noted exactly who was asking him the questions. "Oh. Detective. I didn't realize it was you…. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Max. Just tell me what you think happened."

"I would suspect that he was taken out to sea on a boat, beaten and then smothered before being thrown into the water. Most of the evidence will have washed away already so it will be difficult to find out who did this."

"Of course," Danny rose to his feet again and turned to Meka. "Except we already know who did this. The Colombians. Whatever cartel he got mixed up in must have realized he was going to hand himself in and decided to take care of him before he could."

"We don't know that for sure."

"It makes sense. Goddamnit," Danny paced away and ran his hands over his face, digging his fingers into his eyeballs. "I should've… I mean I… I shouldn't have left him. I should have stayed."

"And then maybe you'd be dead as well," Meka told him. 

"None of this makes any sense. If the Colombians did this to Matty then who took out those two other Colombians? And how in the hell did they get Matty without anyone seeing?"

"If they took him out on a boat, then it's easier to disguise what's happening. There's no security cameras in the pacific," Meka pointed out. 

"But to wash up here? They can't have gone far out. In just a couple of hours he washed up onto the shore by the hotel he was staying in."

"True," Meka agreed, surprised that Danny was being so calm about this, thinking about it rationally like a detective. But Danny knew that he was doing it as a coping mechanism, trying to work the case and not get so involved in the personal aspect of it because if he did, he'd break down. "Last night was the weekly fireworks the Hilton put on. If they took him out during that, then all the noise and banging could have been a distraction. Not to mention that seeing boats so close to the hotel to view them would also be pretty normal."

"You're right, which makes everything more difficult to track."

"Not for you," the douchier fed said from behind. "You're going to go home, call your family and then sit on your ass and stay away from this case. It's a federal investigation that you have no part of and I'd be saying that even if it wasn't your brother who had been killed."

Before he could say anything to land himself in more trouble, Danny was pulled away by Meka. He argued with his partner, telling him he needed to be involved. Needed to know the truth. 

"I know you do, but you can't. You know the Captain will side with the feds on this one. You've got to let them handle it."

"I can't stand aside. This is my brother. My _brother_ , Meka."

"You need to stop, Danny. Stop for a second and consider what you've just said. This is your brother. And you're standing here trying to do your job? You need the time to mourn him, not run yourself ragged when, like you said, we already have a fair idea what happened."

"You're right, I need-" he cut himself short, knowing Meka had his best interests at heart but also knowing that anything he did had to be completely under the radar. "I need a ride home," he said instead, letting his shoulders droop in defeat and Meka clapped him on one and led him back to the car.

Once home, he immediately got on his computer and began searching for everything he could on Colombian drug cartels, he logged into his HPD account and searched what he could on there about his brother's death (without leaving a trail that would plant red flags everywhere). His problem was that he had no access to the FBIs findings and HPD's only went so far. Instead he had to do what he could by searching about the company his brother worked for, any fallout from the bad deals Matt had made, he even hacked into Matt's personal email (his password was as easy as it had been when they were teenagers) to try and figure everything out. 

He didn't even realize when it got dark. He'd ignored every hunger pang his body sent him. And he'd opened a bottle of scotch on autopilot.

*

He'd spent so long sitting at the desk, eyes on the computer screen and absently drinking scotch that when he stood to go to the bathroom he found himself shaky on his feet and woozy as all hell. When he stumbled back into the the main room again, bladder relieved, he let himself collapse face first onto the bed, turning around slowly to stare at the ceiling fan as it swirled around above his head. 

He could feel the weight of the world creeping slowly up his back and onto his shoulders. Nothing in his life had been right since the divorce, since moving to Hawaii, since becoming on outcast and now, his closest family member and the man he relied on the most in his life was gone and couldn't come back. 

He hadn't even called home yet. His phone was on silent so no doubt there had been dozens of calls and he'd ignored them all. 

And yet, there had been no knock on his door asking him if he was okay, because the people who had made those calls were so far away that they couldn't come to him. And truth be told, he didn't want them to because he couldn't face them. 

He pulled himself back to his feet and unsteadily walked into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out a beer, throwing the top somewhere by the sink and drinking fast. The bottle landed hard when he put it back down on the counter; his depth perception failing him. 

He stared at the fridge door. Pictures of Grace smiling back at him were usually enough to bring him out of funks but there was a picture of him and Matty there at Sal's for Matt's birthday a few years previously. His 25th. And they'd mashed Matt's head into the icing of his cake and Matt had been asking if any of the girls wanted to lick it off him. The photo had been taken right after he'd been slapped, deservedly so, by one of their sister's friends with Danny in the background of the shot, hands on his knees as he doubled over laughing at his brother. 

He pulled the photo down, crumpled it up and threw it at the wall before leaning an elbow on the fridge, pressing his forehead to it and letting the tears fall. 

"Shhhhhhh, I'm here, baby."

Warm hands on his back, rubbing up and down and a body pressing closer. He wasn't sure if he was asleep, or hallucinating… so damned drunk he'd fallen into his fantasies, so desperate to have someone to be there and tell him everything would be okay that he'd conjured Steve up for himself. 

"It's my fault," he said into his arm. "I should have been there, I should have stayed, but I…"

"You did exactly what your were supposed to do," Steve answered him, lips gliding over the back of his neck, hands massaging his shoulders. 

"He needed me."

"He did," Steve's hands tightened on Danny's shoulders painfully, but only for a moment before smoothing down over his arms and back as he pressed him in closer to the fridge. "He did need you. He told his attacker that you'd come for him, that you'd save him, that you'd stop them. But you didn't. He died thinking you'd failed him."

"I didn't know. Matty, I'm so sorry," Danny sobbed out and Steve grabbed his arm and yanked it, turning Danny, backing him into the fridge, lifting his head to look into his eyes but they were so close that everything was blurry beyond the tears. 

Steve flicked his tongue out against Danny's lips then nosed against his cheek as he moved to whisper in his ear. "You were sucking my dick when your brother died. You wanted my cum in your mouth. Do you remember, Danny? Do you remember why you came home last night?"

"I don't- I mean, I-"

"You didn't want to save your brother, not really. You were too obsessed with my cock to help him, weren't you."

"No," Danny growled, fighting back against Steve's hold, getting some satisfaction in lashing out, using his strength to try and hurt something, anything, but Steve was able to stop him, to hold him tight. A thigh between his legs made it difficult to move and hands holding his wrists low between their bodies made it even more impossible. 

"Shh, shh, shh," Steve held his struggles at bay. "Stop it, Danny. You know better than to fight me. Who's in control here, huh? Tell me. Come on, tell me, you know the truth."

"You. You are," he all but whispered, eyes sore and red as he looked into Steve's dark gaze and began to feel helpless but somehow safe. There was some kind of release inside himself when he let Steve take over. It meant he didn't have to, and feeling as he did right now, he really didn't want to have to make any decisions. 

As Steve released Danny's hands he pulled him into a hug, letting Danny cry against his shoulder.

"That's it, that's right," Steve soothed, a hand petting the back of Danny's head. 

"Tell me what to do. Please. I don't know what I'm doing," Danny all but begged, his words muffled by Steve's t-shirt as he gave in. He felt helpless, he felt like he had too many thoughts in his head and too little all at once. He felt like he didn't know how to fix anything over Matt's death and the guilt ate at him that his stomach felt like it was tied up in knots. He hated the feeling, hated it so much, hated himself and he just needed something. He didn't even know what, he just needed to not be him. Even for just a little while.

"Just let me take care of you," Steve looked earnestly into Danny's eyes, holding his head steady, letting him breathe deeply. He hovered his lips over Danny's but never gave in to the kiss and the intimate contact, instead he pulled slowly away and took Danny's bandaged hand in his own, leading him to the bed. 

They lay together on top of the sheets. The only light in the room came through the curtains from the street lamps outside and Danny curled into Steve's body while the other man stroked his hair and back and told him he was there for him, that he'd always be there for him, that all Danny needed was him and everything would be okay, everything would be taken care of, that he could rely on him. He began to believe it so much that he forgot Steve was a figment of his imagination, something borne of his depression. 

If he was smart, he'd stop himself. If he was strong enough, he'd fight to get out of this state of mind and to push Steve out of his head but he wasn't. Not now. Not with Matty gone. He didn't have that kind of fight in him and he happily sunk into his fantasy world of just him and Steve. 

*

Danny had dozed in Steve's arms for a while, before Steve turned him so that he lay on his back in the middle of the bed. 

He'd got up, wandered the apartment, checked the state of Danny's fridge and cupboards, taking some more of his little pills and popping them in the bottles that seemed new. The more Steve ingrained himself into Danny's mind, the more he began to pick away at the people and things that stood in his way and took up Danny's life, the less he needed to worry about spiking his food and drink. Danny would begin to seek him out more, begin to not care about reality versus fantasy. He was already heading in that direction and it made Steve's dick twitch. 

He moved back to the bed, propping his head up on an elbow and lazily tracing fingers up and down Danny's clothed abdomen; his shirt hot and sweaty and sticking to him. Steve always did appreciate the thin material of Danny's shirts, though he preferred it when Danny was naked.

He was caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Danny's eyes beginning to flutter open. "Why are you here?" Danny asked, mumbled so low it was hard to tell.

"Because you need me," Steve replied and kissed him, once, twice, continuing the gentle touches, always breathing every few kisses, preventing them from getting dirtier, needier. Their noses rubbed with each slight change in angle, Steve held his lips above Danny's, letting their breath mingle and he looked down their bodies, Danny following suit. 

Danny's chest rose and fall and Steve's fingers skirted over his shirt, buttons slowly popping open. He trailed his lips down, kissing against Danny's neck, then chest as the material gave way and began to fall to the sides. His hand went lower, rubbing over the front of Danny's pants, dipping down between his legs. 

"I don't-" Danny started but Steve brought his hand back up quickly, one finger touching to Danny's lips. 

"Let me take care of you."

"But-"

"Let me," he reiterated and Danny no longer said anything, no longer tried to stop Steve's hands from venturing where they wanted to go. One hand was back over his pants and Danny's hips undulated up into the touch despite the slight whimper of protest. He may not think he wanted to have sex, but Steve knew better, knew Danny couldn't resist his touch.

Shirt open, bunching underneath his back, Danny felt the touch of Steve's fingers as they opened the button and fly of his pants and his hand slipped in underneath his boxers. He brought it back out long enough to lick his own palm, eyes never leaving Danny's as it slipped back under and began to rub and pull at his cock. 

When Danny's head fell back into the pillow, breath caught in his throat, Steve ducked his head down and licked up Danny's chest to a nipple, clamping down on it, biting sucking. Then moving further, repositioning himself as he drew his tongue down Danny's skin, running it over the waistband of his underwear.

Danny lifted up, allowing Steve to pull his clothing down and off his feet. Steve pushed Danny's thigh's apart and settled between them, starting by licking over his stomach, eyes up and looking at Danny's reactions. Danny braced himself on his elbows as he watched Steve, before the other man came closer up his body and kissed him, tongue happily touching to Danny's own. He wrapped his arms around Danny's shoulders, one holding to the back of his neck as they kissed and with a small foray into Danny's neck, he lowered his body onto Danny's. His cargo-covered hard cock pressing against Danny's naked one and rolling a rhythm against him.

Amidst their kisses, Steve managed to take his shirt off over his head and throw it aside before helping Danny out of his sleeves. He moved down Danny's body, still thrusting his hips against Danny but now determinedly biting and sucking against his nipples, his chest, his collarbone, leaving a trail of temporary red marks that he hoped would become permanent once he had Danny all to himself. 

He felt Danny's lips press to his forehead as he moved down again, sliding further into the bed. He licked against Danny's inner thigh as he moved his leg out of the way and then touched the tip of his tongue to the head of Danny's cock, once, twice, over and over before carefully sucking on just the head. 

Danny moaned in appreciation, wanting more, needing Steve to stay where he was and let his warm heat remain. He slowly took Danny's cock into his mouth. Up and down, inch by agonizing inch as he sucked and watched as Danny writhed on the bed, unable to decide what to do with his arms. 

He pulled off and spat on Danny's cock, using his hand to pump up and down. He spat a few more times, getting it nice and wet as he mixed his spit with the small amount of pre-cum on Danny's hardness.

Danny's hand in his hair pulled at his attention and he allowed it, lifting up to kiss Danny again. "I want to see you come, baby," Steve spoke into his mouth. 

"Not yet," Danny answered breathily. 

Steve smiled against his lips and slid onto his side, turning Danny so that they were spooning up. He clutched around Danny's chest and pulled him tight then moved the arm under his shoulder and held around his neck to the other shoulder. 

He took his free arm over Danny and pressed his fingers to Danny's lips. "Open up and suck for me, baby. Get them good and wet."

Danny obliged delightfully, doing exactly as Steve needed and wanted, his body pliant beside him and thrumming with the building pleasure. Steve's fingers grazed against Danny's tongue and he pushed them to the back of his throat, making him choke, like he had the night before with Steve's big cock. It made him spit up more saliva and it trailed out of his mouth as Steve withdrew his fingers. 

He took his hand lower and behind, pushing a finger against Danny's ass and slowly slipping it inside. 

He felt Danny tense and release. "That's it, baby. You know what's good for you. You like having me inside you. Say it. Tell me."

"I like you inside me," Danny repeated. "So good."

Steve turned them again, pulling Danny on top of him, back pressed to Steve's chest. His hand was trapped between them, two fingers inside Danny unable to move too much but still able to flex inside him while his other hand was freed to begin stripping Danny's cock again. 

Danny's legs fell to either side of Steve's own and he pushed them apart further with his knees. Danny laid bare on top of him was a pleasant feeling. He didn't have to hold Danny down to have him helpless, needy, whimpering.

"Come for me now, Danny. I want to see it all over you."

"I don't-" Danny began. "Yet." But he had no choice, the stimulation was too great and he came, spurting over himself and Steve's hand, his back arching up as he did so and Steve's hand still pumping his cock until everything was out. 

He twisted them, getting onto his side and then letting Danny turn onto his back. He ran his fingers through the cum on Danny's chest and then, more quickly than he thought Danny could move, a hand curled around his wrist. 

"Don't go just yet," Danny asked of him. 

"Why would I go?" Steve asked. 

"You always go after and I…" Danny didn't articulate it any further, but Steve could tell Danny was falling more and more for him and it made him grin triumphantly. Danny wanted him. Needed him. Sought out his waiting arms.

"I'm not going anywhere," Steve said as he straddled Danny's chest. "I haven't come yet and your pretty mouth needs stuffing." It was with a soaring heart that Steve watched Danny's body sag in relief and his mouth open wide.


	5. Chapter 5

Danny's stomach growled but he still lay in bed, unwilling to get up, despite remembering that he hadn't eaten the day before. Instead, he idly pinched at his own nipple while his mind replayed the foggy memories from the dreams he'd had through the night. 

He'd expected to never want to sleep again, too afraid of the nightmares that might plague him with Matty's death, but he'd not had those. He'd had Steve there. Loving, attentive, tender… yet filthy, just the way he liked it. It was different. His mind had brought him a softer Steve than he'd ever seen before. It was a Steve that in some way consoled him and yet still seemed to overwhelm his senses just like every other pieced together memory he had. 

He knew he hadn't wanted it to end. Didn't want the nightmares, didn't want to be alone. 

Waking in the morning had been like a cold shower. The sheets soiled with his own cum and sweat but devoid of any other person. His apartment, small and bare was dark and oppressive yet he had nowhere else to go, so he hadn't even bothered. He'd just stayed under the sheets and stared at the ceiling fan.

Thoughts of Matty and of his family assaulted him and he didn't want them to. He needed something to take his mind away from it again. He contemplated the bottle of Dewar's but figured he shouldn't. That way lead to alcoholism and he couldn't slip into that head-space. He had a daughter to think about. 

Oh God. Grace. If anyone had told her about Matt… she'd be worried about her father. And no one should have told her anything except for him. But he'd ignored his phone all day yesterday so who the hell knew what was happening around him. 

Still, at what was now 11am, there was yet to be a knock on the door worried about him. 

It just proved that he could be lying dead inside this apartment and no one would have cared.

He rolled over, tucked his hand under his pillow and gave in to fresh tears at the loss of his brother.

*

He sat on the edge of the bed, phone clutched in his hands. All the fight had gone out of him. He was tired. Over tired. The clock had long struck afternoon and the bottle of whiskey lying on its side beside him had already been opened. 

He finally lifted the phone and pressed to light up the screen, seeing the scores of missed calls. Mostly from his mom and from Rachel.

He hit the speed dial.

"Danny? Thank God, I've had a page of flights open on the internet for hours just waiting to hit confirm."

"Ma-" he started, but couldn't finish. 

"It's going to be okay, sweetie. We're going to be okay," she answered him, the lump in her own throat obvious, the wavering of her voice betraying just how many tears she'd shed herself and just how wrong her statement was.

"How can you say that, Ma? Matt's dead. Things aren't okay."

"I know. I know, honey. I know, but we've got to be strong for him, okay? You're going to be alright. You've always been the strong one of all of us. You and your dad. And I know you're going to be okay."

And there it was. The expectation. The naiveté. And she had no idea just how wrong she was because she didn't know that it was Danny's fault Matt was dead. That he could have done something to save him but didn't. That he was back in his own apartment, none the wiser, enjoying a night of… 'self satisfaction' with his own hands and a mirage while Matt was being killed.

"They said we'd have to wait until an autopsy. They think it'll be another few days before they can fly Matt home to us. Danny?" She asked, when he'd been quiet a little too long. 

"Yeah?"

"When are you coming back?"

"I-" he started. Not sure how to break the news to her. "I'm not, Ma. I can't."

"Danny, he's your brother. You need to be here for the funeral."

When he thought about going home there was a tension, in his heart and his head. He couldn't go back there. He couldn't leave Hawaii. Despite hating the place - and he did hate the place - the thought of leaving to go somewhere else without- well, it just made him stop. There was a voice inside him telling him he couldn't do it. And it stopped him in his tracks and he didn't question it. Just felt the queasy unease and decided it was right. He should stay put. It was better for everyone.

"Ma, the money and… with Grace and everything. I can't, Ma. I wish I could, but I can't."

"We can lend you the money-"

"No, Ma. Don't you dare. Matt's funeral is going to cost enough as it is, I won't let you spend hundreds of dollars flying me back there. I think it's best if I stay. I'll… I'll follow up on the investigation with the FBI. Make sure they catch the guys who did this. I don't care what they think about what Matty was messed up in, they need to get justice for him."

"I know how you want to fix things, Dan-"

"Ma, don't. Just accept this. Please. I'm not coming home with Matty. I need to do this."

"You can talk to me about anything, honey."

Danny took a moment. "I know, Ma. Just… not yet."

*

He bit the bullet. Figured since he'd started down this rabbit hole he had no choice but to continue, and after facing his mother over the phone, he had another call to make. 

Rachel's had been both easier and more difficult. What she said was expected. That she always knew Matt was a bad influence on Grace and also Danny and this had just proved it. When Danny had accidentally let slip about the Colombians who were killed, she said she knew it was safer to keep Grace with her and that it would continue until the killers were caught or until Danny pulled himself together more. 

He did in some way agree about the pulling himself together part. He didn't want Grace to see him when he was upset and crying over his brother. And he was still somewhat worried - although he ignored it - about whether or not he was going insane. That he had an imaginary friend at his age was troubling, but considering how his life was spiraling right now, he'd begun to not even care. And if he did care, then he'd be even more worried. It was a vicious circle and he was simply tired.

He padded around the apartment in his bare feet. Yesterday's underwear slung low on his hips as he sucked on the end of his whisky bottle when he realized he hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. He didn't want to but he knew he needed to force something down his scratchy throat and he contemplated soup before opening his fridge door, leaning on the corner of it and staring at the bare contents. 

When arms wrapped around him from behind he couldn't help but sigh at the warm contact and was reminded of how Steve had appeared the day before and slammed him up against it. Somehow that rush had been a help, even if he hadn't known it at the time, despite the horrid things Steve had told him. The guilt he felt, the weight of letting Matty down was always there, bubbling under the surface and Steve seemed to delight in reminding him of it. He didn't understand - was Steve good for him or bad?

Beyond the obvious, of course. 

Steve was something Danny was fully aware needed to be put to rest, forgotten about, moved on from. It wasn't his fault that his subconscious or his drunken desires or whatever kept bringing him forth and making him seem as real as could be.

"You need to eat something," Steve told him while absently running lips over his collarbone, breathing him in. 

"I was just thinking that," Danny reached a hand back to Steve's neck.

"Maybe I'm a mind reader," Steve smiled against him, hands dipping lower, skirting over his hips and down to his waistband and swaying them.

"Maybe," Danny mused, trying to process how his imaginary boyfriend was reading his mind when he was already in his mind. One thing was for sure: no matter how unhealthy this was, he liked it, and it made him feel comfortable. There was a fear there, in the background, something that wasn't right at all, but comforting. Especially now.

"Come on," Steve reached around and into the fridge, pulling out a tub of days old Chinese and opening it for them both to take a sniff. "Seems okay, how about you try a little," he held up a long strand of noodle as Danny tipped his head back, resting it against Steve's shoulder and they both actually giggled as Steve lowered it into Danny's mouth for him to eat. "Keep going," he encouraged as he made Danny eat more, using his fingers to pop the food into Danny's waiting mouth and as he reached the bottom of the tub, with the last mouthful he kept two fingers inside Danny's mouth, making him swallow the last of the food with them still in there. 

Steve's eyes seemed darker, more purposed. He began to move the fingers slowly in and out of Danny's mouth like he was fucking into him, the tips reaching the back of Danny's throat and making him cough a little.

As he recovered, Steve lifted the whiskey bottle up and Danny took the hint, taking a long swig of it, not caring how it burned on the way down as opposed to the cold noodles and vegetables he'd just eaten. 

"It'll help take the edge of," Steve spoke slowly, with kindness. "You're in a bad place, Danny. You got your brother killed and all because you did what I wanted you to and came home that night to suck my cock…. it just goes to show who is the most important person in your life."

"You think it's you?" Danny asked, staring forward.

"I know it is. And that's how it should be," Steve's hand slipped down into Danny's underwear, feeling for his dick, running fingers up and down the soft shaft.

"It can't be. You're not even real," Danny countered, words slurring as he curled his still bandaged hand around Steve's wrist.

"I'm as real as you need me to be," Steve answered and he pulled Danny's head back, forcing it around and kissing him hard on the lips. That hand trailed down his chest, pinching a nipple before taking Danny's wrapped hand in his own and squeezing. 

It made Danny hiss as his burn was disturbed and somehow the intent was clear. He wasn't waking from a dream, he wasn't being brought back to some kind of horrid reality with the pain and so what was happening right now was as real as it could get. 

He could only assume then that he was losing his mind, that Steve, that his hallucinations brought forth from a diseased mind had a better grip on him than he realized.

It probably didn't help that he didn't want to wake up, because when he did, Matt would still be dead, but he'd also be alone.

He turned in Steve's arms, reaching up and pulling Steve down, to press their lips together and let their tongues touch in warm, smooth strokes. He felt the kitchen counter dig into his side as Steve backed him into it as their kisses continued for God knows how long as Danny enjoyed the sensation of just making out like a teenager. 

At the feel of Steve's hand pumping his cock again to make it hard, Danny tore his lips away, turning his head to the side and attempting to stop. It felt almost like a formality. Pointless, but a gesture he had to give for his own sanity. "No, wait… wait… I should stop, this is ridiculous. It shouldn't be happening."

"You don't get to make decisions like that, Daniel," Steve warned him with a seductive tone.

Danny stared back at him, watching to see if Steve's eyes would change but they didn't. They stayed dark, full of intent and control. Determined. And Danny didn't have the willpower to stand up to them and he crumbled, succumbing to the kisses again.

He was dragged into the main room but instead of going to the unmade bed, Steve pushed him down to kneel beside it. The drag of a zip lowering reverberated around the apartment and Danny helped to pull Steve's cock out from its confines. He pumped loosely along the shift and his tongue touched carefully to the head, putting the barest amount of pressure against it. 

Slowly he moved to the base and licked up the underside and round until he could suck the head more fully. He repeated the action over and over, taking in the scent and taste of Steve as he hardened. A hand tight in his hair kept him in his place as he took Steve's balls into his mouth, lips stretched to accommodate them as Steve's dick twitched in his hand. 

He leaned back long enough to look up at Steve and the way he was haloed in the light from above. Then Steve pushed Danny's head back, putting strain on his neck and shoving two fingers into his mouth, pushing them as far to the back of Danny's throat as possible, making him choke and cough against them. 

"Spit," Steve ordered as he took his fingers out and Danny did as he was told, coating Steve's dick in his saliva. Steve repeated the action, shoving the fingers impossibly further into Danny's mouth, adding a third and making him cough up more spit. It trailed from his mouth, over to his hand and to Steve's cock as he pumped it, seeing it shine.

Steve held Danny's jaw tight, head back and ordered him to 'open'. Once he had, he spat directly into Danny's mouth. "Use it," he said in a monotone commanding voice and Danny opened his mouth again and Steve guided his cock in. 

Danny kept still, given little choice by the hands holding onto his head. He kept his jaw open as Steve began to thrust in and out, hitting the back of his throat each time, making Danny gag and moan from it. He pushed in hard, holding his dick as far into Danny's mouth as possible and it made Danny's eyes begin to water as he lost the ability to breathe and yet, Steve still held him in place. 

Finally, he pulled out and Danny's head was let go and he fell forward, breathing hard and loud in the heavy air of the apartment. He had just enough time to take in a few measly lungfuls and Steve's hands were on him again, bringing him into position and shoving his cock back into Danny's mouth and thrusting hard, with intent. 

"That's it. This is what that mouth of yours was made for. The perfect shape for my cock, yeah," Steve ground out as he enjoyed Danny's position. He kept up a brutal rhythm; spit dribbling down Danny's chin as his mouth watered from the assault. Once again, Steve shoved in hard and stayed in place. He took his time releasing Danny, but kept his cock just inside his mouth, letting Danny suck in a sharp breath around it while his hands dug into Steve's thighs to keep balance. 

Steve put his thumbs inside, pulling Danny's lips wider. "Always so eager to suck my cock, aren't you, you little slut."

Danny's eyes slammed shut as Steve started up again, not stopping, holding Danny still with nails digging into the skin behind his ears as he kept him in place. "Fuck, it could make me come so quickly. Just like that amazing ass of yours, huh? Fuck. I swear I'm gonna fuck that ass so hard you'll feel me inside you for the rest of your life. You're going to know exactly who calls the shots, Danny."

He stayed still again inside Danny's mouth, waiting until Danny began to flail for air before allowing him respite. His cock was dripping with Danny's spit and his own pre-cum. He bent down, taking Danny's hand from where it was curled into his leg and used those fingers to wrap around the shaft and pump.

"Tell me, Danny," he ordered as he watched Danny kneeling in front of him, stroking his cock and licking reddened lips. "Talk to me. I want to hear you."

"I love your cock," Danny said quickly, voice rough, sore, abused. 

Steve slapped at Danny's face, pushing and shoving at him to get him into an optimum position. "Say it again."

"I love it. I love your dick. I love having it in my mouth."

"Like a good slut, huh? Like a little whore nympho, you can't survive without it, can you. Well, I've got just the thing for you. Open up."

Steve shoved in again, so easy, expecting the heat and the feel of Danny's tongue and the way he kept open so wide. The way Danny let Steve use his mouth however he wanted. Danny didn't protest, didn't do anything except take it, and let Steve have his victory. 

After long, fast thrusts, in and out, over and over that left Danny's jaw aching from being open for so long, Steve drew out and began pumping his dick with his hand, the other was on Danny's forehead, fingers tangled in his hair. He slapped the head of his dick against Danny's nose and lips. 

"Open up for me baby, let me see that tongue," Steve ordered and Danny responded, knowing what Steve wanted. A few moments later he flinched at the first feel of cum spattering his face and into his mouth. The strands began to drip down to his chin as Steve growled, getting a good look at how he'd painted Danny. "Look at all that spunk in there," Steve said with an almost wistful tone. He pushed his cock back into Danny's mouth and let him close his mouth around it, tongue pressing to the underside as he rocked back into the wet heat, cum and saliva mixing in Danny's mouth.

He swallowed it down and Steve didn't miss the bob of his adam's apple as he did. When he took his cock out Danny presented him with a clean tongue. 

"You're so good at that, baby," Steve murmured and used his fingers to scoop the rest of his cum from Danny's face and put it into his mouth to swallow more. He then leaned down, ran his tongue over the sticky, shiny trails and then kissed him, making sure that as their tongues twirled together, that Danny was able to get every last drop. 

Steve stood straighter, managing his breathing, as he zipped himself back into his pants again and straightened his shirt. As he was ignoring Danny for the moment, Danny reached his hand into his own shorts and to the hard on he was sporting, giving it a few tugs, wanting to touch and get himself off. 

But Steve was aware quickly, and moved to grab Danny's arms and put them behind his back, commanding him to keep them in place and not move. He took a few steps back, pondering Danny's position as he knelt low on the ground, wearing only a pair of old boxer shorts and keeping his hands behind his waist, and his whole body drained of energy despite it's desire to reach a climax.

"What do you want, Danny? You want to come?"

"Yes. Steve, I just-"

"Just what?" Steve interrupted. "Just made me come, so what? You think I should return the favor?"

"Yes."

"So you want some form of payment then. For making me come. For giving me your mouth. If you want paid, Danny, then you can go outside and wander the streets. I'm sure someone would happily pay you for a shot at that mouth. You could go make yourself into some kind of hooker, but then I'd be gone. Because I don't work like that." He came to crouch in front of Danny, a finger lifting Danny's chin. "If you're with me then no one else touches you, or gets to go near you. So if you want to be paid for a favor, I'll leave and never come back. Is that what you want?"

"No," Danny frowned. "No, you can't go."

"Then why should I help you out, Danny, huh? Because you deserve it?"

Danny was silent for a moment, mouth slack as he processed Steve's words and his demeanor. He slumped his shoulders, because he knew the answer to that, certainly in the broader sense of it. "No… because I, I don't 'deserve' anything."

Steve's eyebrow rose. "Hmmmmm," he stroked a hand over Danny's cheek. "Maybe you don't. But you're hard to resist, baby. And I promised you, I'd take care of you and I mean to make good on that." His hand slipped down Danny's chest and stomach and lifted the hem of his boxers away, letting it then snap back to his skin. "Take these off and sit on the edge of the bed," he told Danny, who complied silently. 

Steve nudged Danny's legs apart and knelt between them. He spat on his hands and used it as he began to roughly strip at Danny's cock.

Danny leaned back on his arms, muscles taut as he winced but was somehow still enjoying the coarse feeling against him. 

"That's it," Steve encouraged. "I'm going to get you off if you want it so much. And it's going to be good," he kept going, kept talking as Danny looked to the ceiling, just enjoying the feel of a hand getting him off, bringing him closer. "I'll always be good to you, Danny. I promise. How does it feel?"

"Feels good. Feels… yeah. Please," Danny's voice gasped out as Steve brought lube out from his pocket and opened it with one hand, dribbling some over Danny's dick and it was immediately swept along in the tugging motions and eased the friction further for Danny to enjoy. 

"Scoot forward, baby," Steve encouraged and as Danny slid further to the edge of the bed, Steve kept his legs open and used a lubed finger to probe under his balls and towards his hole, pushing in slowly, stretching Danny open and then beginning to finger fuck him while continuing a fast and brutal motion with his hand on Danny's cock. 

It was good. So good. Steve touching him just right and he could begin to feel himself edging closer, his muscles beginning to tighten over his whole body and his breathing stuttering.

"You love it."

"I love it," Danny confirmed Steve's smugness. 

"Because you love me. Love me so much. More than you've ever loved anyone," Danny nodded along. He'd have agreed to a lot of things and somehow, this one wasn't difficult. "Love me more than your brother, right? Abandoning him to a murderer while you sucked my dick."

"Wait. What?" Danny's mind wasn't working right. It was sluggish and slow from the alcohol and lack of decent food or sleep lately. And he was high on the sex right now but Steve had said… now wasn't the time for what he was saying.

"It was your fault, after all. Matthew told his attackers you were a hero. But you didn't give a shit about being heroic, you only cared about swallowing my cum." 

Danny felt his orgasm fall back from the brink, he didn't want it, not when Steve said such things, but Steve didn't stop moving his hands inside and around him and there was a pull Danny couldn't deny. He'd have no choice but to give into his body soon.

"I'm the only one who cares about you, Danny. No one else has come to see you. No one has knocked on your door. The people who know you expect so much from you but forget about you when you need them. I'm the only one who knows, only one who cares. Your family are so far away but they won't come running. And they'd hate you if they found out everything."

"Steve. Stop," Danny tried to get out, flailed a hand out but it made little difference to Steve's determination as he countered by pushing Danny onto the bed and holding him down with his body; strategically placing his shoulders and knees while he continued his onslaught of words, doing everything in his power to make Danny come. 

"The cops don't care, shun you. The FBI paints you with the same brush as they painted your brother. I'm the only one who pays attention, who listens, who cares, who comes to you. You need to remember that, Danny. Remember and listen. I'm the only one with your best interests at heart. And you're going to come for me. Right now. You're going to come for me while knowing that only I can have you. Come for me knowing you love me so much. So much that you betrayed your brother for me and are ignoring your family and would do a hell of a lot more for me, huh? Come, Danny. Come!"

Danny's back arched up into Steve's trapping body and he screwed his face up in shame and anger as he came, spunk spattering over his stomach and down Steve's hand. It took him long moments to settle on just exactly what it was he was feeling, or wanted to feel first, and it seemed his brain had decided to sink into grief again, mixed with the shame he felt for getting sexual gratification from the death of his brother and how he took the blame for it if only in his mind as opposed to the law.

He looked at Steve's open and questioning eyes, and responded by simply curling into him as he let out a few stray tears and the occasional hiccuped sob. He hugged tightly into Steve's chest as the other man soothed him with gestures and words. 

"It's okay, Danny. I know. And I'll fix things. I promise, I'll do everything I can to make things better for you. I'm right here…"


	6. Chapter 6

Danny had become accustomed to waking alone. It had been a struggle after his divorce as he was simply used to having that other body beside his, but the longer he'd gone without, the less strange it was and more just lonely - especially since he'd started having problems and, well, having 'Steve' around. When he woke alone in the mornings he felt even more depressed to know that he was alone and lonely all wrapped into one sad bundle. 

Which was why he had a content smile on his face as he tucked in closer to the warmth of the rising chest he was draped over. "You stayed," he breathed out and felt Steve's fingertips graze over his shoulder and down his arm before returning up again. 

"You need me. And I have time," Steve answered and that's when Danny realized that the darkness around them wasn't because the curtains were drawn still, but because the sun hadn't yet risen. He was reluctant to have the time pass and his joy at still having someone there with him was fleeting. He hugged tighter into Steve, buried his face in the other man's chest and breathed deep. 

"Why are you always gone in the morning?" Danny mumbled against him. "I hate mornings."

"I know it's difficult baby, but you're not there yet."

"Not where?"

"Ready," Steve answered and stroked his hands over Danny's body, his lips over Danny's brow. He reached to the side and grabbed hold of something before settling in with Danny again. "Here," he held something cold and smooth to Danny's lips. 

Danny swallowed what he was offered even though it seemed to burn his throat. It was a familiar taste of whisky though it seemed like it had an edge to it. A fizziness? Like it hissed in his mouth. He choked, coughing, but Steve continued to pour more into his mouth and massaged his throat to make him swallow. Steve's form over his was dark and strong and his hand flailed as it tried to push the bottle away but Steve was having none of it.

"Keep drinking, baby. It's good for you. It'll help you sleep." He finally relented and put the drink aside, using a finger to wipe up the trails of the liquid that had fallen down Danny's chin. "I only want what's best for you, Danny. You know that right?"

"Sometimes, I'm not so sure," Danny answered as he coughed once more. His defiance sparked anger in Steve again and he gripped his hand into Danny's throat, shutting off his coughing and his breathing. 

"You think I would waste my time on you if I didn't care? Huh? Why else would I be here, Danny? I'm the only one here for you. That counts for something," he snarled and then as Danny struggled against him, trying to say his name, he let go, letting Danny heave in a breath. "Baby, hey, it's okay," he kissed Danny's head. 

Danny looked up at him through watering eyes as he got his breath back. "How do I know you're good for me?"

"Because I'm telling you."

Danny was tired, worn and woozy as he relaxed in Steve's hold. He didn't mean to, it was like his body was responding to something his brain wasn't and he was too sluggish, too mournful to see anything clearly as he drifted off in Steve's arms. 

*

When morning brightened, Danny woke suddenly, coughing again and clutching at his own throat as if waking from a nightmare. His eyes widened and he jumped out of bed as quickly as his body would let him and stumbled to the bathroom where he threw up everything that was inside him. 

By the time he was done, he fell back against the wall, legs drawn up. He should never have eaten that Chinese food. How long had it even been in the fridge? Days? Longer?

He was doing a terrible job of taking care of himself, he could see that now. Eating food long since past its best, drinking alcohol well into the night and forcing himself to drink more as if it would help. His body ached from head to toe, his brain was slow and his throat, God, that hurt like hell. Some of it was from the crying, some from the alcohol, some from throwing up just now and, if Steve were actually real, he'd bet on his pain coming from the amount of cock sucking he'd been doing. 

He felt like he'd swallowed barbed wire and the rasp in his voice accounted for that.

As much as vague memories of Steve and he having sex were welcome in their watercolor haze of warmth; dark and soothing, he had other memories swirling in his mind of something more sinister that he couldn't entirely shake. 

He was spiraling, bad. 

He knew it and he needed to try and get out of it, no matter how alluring it seemed to him. He had to think about Grace and about his family and doing his job like he always wanted to and not becoming some washed up detective who took the job home too many times and drank his life away in the comfort of a bottle. If anything, Steve was a wake up call. 

He needed to get his life together. 

He wobbled to his feet and over to the sink where he splashed water on his face and rinsed out his mouth. When he glanced up at the haggard looking man in the mirror, he barely recognized him. What the hell was he doing to himself?

*

Steve stood high on the scaffolding, a predatory eye surveying everything below as a creaking door opened and a long shadow appeared.

"I don't respond well to a summons," the shadow said with a high-brow accent that didn't seem to fit with type of person Steve thought of as a drug dealer. 

"I admit, I'm surprised you came."

"Curiosity," the shadow grew smaller as the man came into view, beige suit and slicked back hair. "I wanted to meet the man so audacious as to presume he could order me around."

"Did you come alone?"

Reyes snorted. "Of course not."

"Give it a minute," Steve responded. He could see the confusion on Reyes' face and the way his shoulders tightened in tension. He still hadn't placed where Steve was, squinting into the darkness at the edges of the building looking for him.

He didn't have to wait long to see the second shadow enter the front of the building and call in. "Taken care of, boss," he heard Kono say, could see the way the sniper rifle hung on her body and her relaxed stance, all to signify Reyes' men had been taken care of by her and Chin.

Steve took the opportunity to jump down from his perch. "What's taken care of?" Reyes asked. 

"You're alone now," Steve responded, voice full of menace. 

"You're the man who killed my men at the Hilton." Reyes caught on. "Why?"

"Honestly, you had no reason to ever be on my radar. I have never had a need to quarrel with you, we've had no reason to encroach on the others' territory. Until you made a very poor decision."

"What decision was that?" Reyes was worried, it was in his body language, but he valiantly held himself in check and calm. 

"Matthew Williams. You picked the wrong man to involve in your business and bring FBI attention to."

"I was unaware Williams already had dealings with any others in… our line of business."

"He didn't. He has a brother. A brother who is very important to me and who I very much need to not have an FBI tail. And for that. I'm going to have to kill you," Steve almost leapt forward like a gazelle, punching Reyes in the face so hard that it knocked him to the ground, too dazed to fight back, and Steve had him hog tied on the floor within moments. 

As Reyes shook the cobwebs from his vision and came to realize his position, he fought to get out of the ropes around his body but they didn't budge. Steve had been a sailor, after all. He knew how to tie a knot or two and there was no escape for Reyes. Unless the man was able to crawl at a turtle's pace out of the building and past all three members of Hyde to go get himself some help. 

"In some ways I should be thanking you," Steve said as he played with a lighter. "Danny needed another push in my direction. And with Matthew's dealings with you, it just looks like you killed him. Not me. And keeping a secret like this from Danny is delicious. Him letting the man who ordered the kill on his brother fuck him, thinking someone else did it… it's too good. Danny really is the most fun I've ever had with a play thing," he laughed. It was true, it really was joyous to keep such a secret from Danny, but the last bit… calling Danny a 'play thing' stuck in his mouth like it just wasn't the right description. That Danny wasn't just a 'thing' to Steve.

"Who the hell are you?" Reyes asked. 

"Someone who does a much better job at staying under the FBI's radar, for a start." He straddled Reyes' knees backwards and fought to take the man's shoes and socks off, throwing them aside. He flicked his lighter on and began to hold it under the man's feet, keeping them steady in an iron grip even as Reyes screamed at him and fought against it. Steve could see the skin reddening, burning, and it ignited something more inside him as he enjoyed hurting the Colombian.

The man yelled at him to stop, asking him what he wanted, offering him money or anything else he wanted, but Steve had started having his fun and wouldn't be distracted from it. Everything he did to Reyes blinded him to the rest of the world as he enjoyed and indulged in the sickness inside of him. He moved on to Reyes' hands and burned away the skin there, remembering how he'd done similar to Danny over the stove and it began to make him hard.

He held the lighter over Reyes' neck and under his chin. He set alight the man's hair, knowing the product would catch fire so easily. He stamped the fire out with his own feet, careless in how he also stamped on Reyes' head. 

By the time it was out, Reyes was unconscious and it wasn't as much fun. He got a can of gasoline and poured it over the man before throwing the lighter onto him and watched as the body turned into a pyre of red hot flames and dying screams. His revenge, _**Danny's revenge**_ was complete. 

He even waited until the flames died out, unable to get purchase on the concrete ground, no other fuel for it to spread. He then used the embers of the dead man's burned clothes to painstakingly write a message on the grey ground beside him.

He walked out of the building with purpose, sun reaching high in sky as it signaled the late morning and Kono and Chin joined him, all in dark sunglasses as they made their way back to Steve's truck to leave. Not before making an anonymous phone call to the HPD.

*

Talking with Grace always made Danny feel better, it encouraged him to be a better man, and in this instance, it gave him that resolve to sort himself out. He'd put Steve aside, block him, go cold turkey and not let his mind continue to play tricks on him, no matter the promises. He'd stop hurting if for no other reason than his daughter needed him. 

But as always when on the phone to Grace, it saddened him that she wasn't with him as often as she should be. He lamented the fact he only got to see his daughter every second weekend and Wednesdays and it threatened to depress him again. 

When Rachel took the phone from Grace, needing to speak to him, he could tell she was shutting herself in a room away from Grace to speak in private, which was never good. 

"Danny, I'm worried about you. When you dropped Grace off here on Thursday, you looked like shit. And Grace doesn't like your apartment, she thinks there's something wrong there. Even said she thinks it's haunted, it's not good for her to be there."

"Rachel, you're well aware of how much the divorce and the move wiped me out. Not all of us have new husbands loaded with cash to make it easier. I need time to earn the money to get a better place. You can't hold that against me, you can't stop me spending time with my daughter."

"Danny, the murder you were working, the bomb runner?"

"Gun runner," Danny corrected her, wiping a hand over his face as he felt his stomach drop ominously.

"Whatever, Stan heard more about it. There's cops on your team who are saying you had something to do with it."

"Those guys don't like me, they're making shit up."

"I understand that, Danny, but they're also not entirely wrong. That killer knows who you are and is playing with you. Not to mention everything with your brother and that Colombian drug cartel… Grace can't be put in that kind of danger and your place is the least secure I've ever seen and you're a cop, Danny. That's embarrassing at the very least. You're a disaster waiting to happen."

"What are you saying, Rachel? What are you trying to do?"

She sighed on the other end of the line. "I spoke to my lawyers. I'm reapplying for full custody citing your job and your situation as being too dangerous for her. They think I've got a good case, Danny. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?! You're- Rachel, you- You can't do this to me!"

"Yes I can, Danny. And I am. I think you need to talk to your lawyer."

She hung up on him and Danny looked at the phone in disbelief as she ignored him, not wanting to have him yell at her, remind her of how wrong she was, how much her actions could ruin his life completely. And she acted like she didn't care. As much as their marriage had fallen apart and their friendship with it, he was still in shock over how uncaring she could be. 

He threw the phone across the room, seeing the screen crack as it fell to the ground. It made him want to throw more things, but a rational part of his brain halted him from breaking anything important - but It didn't stop him from repeatedly punching his pillows and kicking the walls.

He tore at his hair, pent up frustration not finding a decent outlet. He paced the room, his thoughts getting darker, hating Rachel more and more with each passing moment, but then hating himself and hating that stupid vigilante who had left that message for him with Hesse's body. That's when it occurred to him. 

In order to stop Rachel, to stop her fighting their custody arrangement. he had to fix why she was doing it. Not only did he have to get his life back on track and stop feeling sorry for himself, but he also had to deal with this killer, whether they'd done law enforcement a favor by getting rid of Victor Hesse or not, this person was a killer and needed to be found. Danny would have to be the person to do it.

He needed to banish Steve, banish his demons, banish his depression. He took a deep breath, noted the amount he needed to tidy up his apartment after punching and throwing things around and he made his way into the kitchen, grabbing everything remotely alcoholic from the fridge or the cupboard and emptying it all down the sink.

*

"Steve, you might want to take a look at your feed to Danny's place," Chin's voice drifted over the comm unit they'd built into the house. 

Steve was in the basement working on a new drug they hoped to implement in a future job and he was fully immersed in the work when Chin interrupted him. "What is it?" Steve asked, annoyed.

"I mean it, Steve. Turn it on, you need to see this, it's not good."

He put his annoyance aside considering he had been in the middle of very carefully measuring doses, to dash over to his computer and press the space bar to take it off screen save. Immediately the feeds from the cameras at Danny's place sprung into view and he clicked to zone in on the room Danny was currently in. 

"What the hell? What's he doing- what happened?"

"Not sure. He spoke to his ex and then he began going crazy. At first I thought it was a good thing but now I'm not so sure. I think he's fighting your influence."

Steve watched as Danny began opening bottles and watching the contents spill down the sink. He dropped the bottle, grabbed another and put it in the sink as well, and then continued one after the other until there was a pile of glass bottles on their sides in the sink with their contents mixing together and running down the plug hole. This wouldn't do. As much as Steve had drugged more than just the alcohol in Danny's fridge, he relied on the connotations of drunkenness for Danny to do what he was told. He'd be more difficult to convince without it. 

Still vaguely on a high from killing Reyes, he'd been working to stave off his excitement for what would happen once HPD told Danny of what was left at the scene, wondering if HPD would blame Danny in some way, perhaps suspect him of being involved. It was going to be exquisite, especially while Danny was so off balance. Him fighting this, going against Steve's carefully constructed script would not do and it made him angry. Danny doing the unexpected could raise problems for Steve and for Hyde. Could draw unwanted attention. He needed to fix things. 

"I'll take care of it," he told Chin and ran from the house. 

He sped through the streets of Honolulu as much as he could while obeying the laws of the road, maintaining his anonymity despite his criminal nature. 

He rushed to the back of Danny's complex and climbed up the tree until he could jump to the drainpipe and get himself through the back window. Danny had no idea, nor did any of his neighbors, over just how Steve got in and out sometimes. 

Once in, he wiped down his pants and carefully listened to where in the apartment Danny now was. He kept his back to the wall, making his way down the hall until he could pinpoint Danny who was in the bathroom. He ducked his head quickly in to see Danny going through the cabinets. He must have been searching for anything that could be considered a useful alcohol substitute - a low key drug to take to dull his brain - and get rid of that, too. Steve looked again, seeing Danny opening a bottle of cough syrup over the sink.

Perfect. He had drugs of his own in his pocket and their effects would help get his point across to Danny all while making Danny believe he'd succumbed to the contents of his cabinet. 

He moved quickly, sneakily, using his military background in stealth to his advantage and he grabbed Danny from behind, one arm gripped around his neck and the other covering his mouth from making any sound. He pulled Danny back, reveling in how Danny struggled, surprised by the attack.

When Danny realized who it was he said Steve's name, but it was muffled by his hand. For just a moment he stopped struggling and it gave Steve an opening. He got Danny on the floor and onto his front, trapped underneath Steve's body. He yanked Danny's head back to an uncomfortable angle, getting flashes of how he'd hogtied Reyes that morning. 

Fishing the tablets from his back pocket he forced them into Danny's mouth and covered it with his hand again, while the other stopped his arms from flailing and he kept his knees in Danny's back to keep him in place. 

"Swallow, Danny. Swallow and I'll let you up," he told him, but Danny refused with an attempted shake of his head and a growl of revolt. "Swallow!" Steve demanded again and shifted his hand around to cover Danny's mouth and nose. "I'll allow you to breathe again the moment you swallow."

It was a game of chicken with Danny determined not to give in but Steve was keeping to his word and if Danny were to pass out then so be it - it would make drugging him again a lot easier. Danny struggled harder but was weakening and gave in, swallowing the pills and grimacing, a full body shiver going through him as he tasted them. Steve let go, pushing Danny's head aside and letting him heave in heavy breaths.

He stayed crouched over Danny's back and after the other man seemed to be getting his wits together he manhandled him around and latched a hand onto Danny's jaw, pulling it open and checking inside to make sure he had swallowed both pills and hadn't been able to fake it. Satisfied, he stood leaving Danny on the floor and he moved to the bathtub, put the stopper in and turned on both taps.

He grabbed for Danny, hand clutched into his t-shirt and dragged him up and over, kicking his legs out from under him to make him kneel and his hand grasped into Danny's hair. 

"What are you doing?" Danny asked. "What did I just take?"

"My own invention… something like rohypnol, scopolamine, with a touch if viagra. You're fighting my hold on you and I can't have that. You need to be taught a lesson. You don't make decisions without me and for that you're going to be punished."

"Punished. Steve, you can't… you can't… not real…" he growled and fought Steve's hands that were pushing his head under the running taps. 

Danny's nose and mouth were held under the gushing water of the cold tap, making it difficult for him to breathe. He choked as the water made its way into his mouth and up his nose until Steve pulled his head out. The water dripped down Danny's face and soaked into his shirt and he breathed heavily. He was then shoved back under the running taps, the hot water heating up further and running over his hair and forehead while the cold tap continued to block his ability to breathe. 

The water in the tub was slowly filling higher and higher. Each time Steve allowed Danny a moment to breathe he lifted his head close to his own, able to speak directly into Danny's ear, a different warning of ownership each time.

_"You are mine." "You belong to me." "You do what I say."_

"No," Danny tried to keep himself together, but the drugs slowly began to work on him and the constant up and down into the stream of water was weakening him. "Normal… back to normal."

"You don't get to be what you were before…"

"Go AWAY!" Danny tried to yell, a last ditch effort. Steve looked into the tub, decided the water was high enough and gripped tighter into Danny's hair. He re-positioned himself behind Danny, standing and crouching over him in a straddle as he clamped his other hand onto Danny's neck. 

"I'm here to stay!" he yelled at Danny and pushed his head into the pool of water in the tub, keeping his head under as long as he dared, watching the bubbles of air leaving Danny's mouth as he yelled from under the water, fighting with everything left in him, which wasn't near enough to combat Steve's strength over him. 

When Steve finally let go, Danny threw his head back and audibly took in a giant breath. "Fuck you!" he said, throat hurting and voice gravelly.

"Play nice," Steve warned him and grabbed for him again, head going back underwater until it was almost too late.

Steve kept it up, over and over, ignoring Danny's pleas and his dissent. As long as he saw the fire of rebellion inside him, Steve would keep going, water sloshing all over the floor and Danny's knees slipping across the tiling beneath him as he was half-drowned over and over again. 

Danny started crying though it was difficult to tell with the water dripping over and down his face and through his hair. "Stop, stop please."

Feeling like Danny was reaching his limit (and Steve was weirdly proud of just how long he'd held out, making the game much more satisfying) he leaned over his kneeling form, held his head back as Danny breathed and forced his mouth open. 

He spat a long trail of saliva from his own mouth falling into Danny's in a gross parallel of the water from the taps and he fumbled with his other hand to pull out his rock hard cock and shove it into Danny's mouth. In, out, he held Danny's head and moved him back and forth, forcing him to blow Steve for long seconds before shoving him backwards to fall onto the floor.

Danny moaned and rolled onto his stomach and Steve briefly considered the way Danny's ass looked in the pair of sweats he was wearing but let him be, more curious about how Danny was. Unsatisfied he tucked his cock away again and turned off the taps before standing with his hands on his hips. 

Danny lifted up to his hands and knees and then slowly, swaying badly, made his way to his feet and turned angry eyes on Steve. "I hate you."

"You need me."

"Why do I let you in? To do these things to me? I need it to stop," he told Steve as he stood, blinking hard against the effects of the drugs and tiring nature of what Steve had been doing to him. 

"What makes you think that?" Steve asked calmly in a sudden change of pace, trying to get to the bottom of Danny's insolence. 

"Rachel won't let me see Grace. Thinks my work is dangerous, that there's a killer out there whose attention is on me and thinks I look like shit. That last one, she's right. Look at me," Danny told Steve and motioned down his dripping body. "I've been drinking too much and locking myself away with… with _**you**_ , and that needs to stop. I need to get my life back."

"Did you stop to consider that this life is the better one for you?" Steve asked. 

Danny moved to the sink and leaned heavily on it. His hand brushed against the cup with his and Grace's toothbrush and toothpaste in and it fell to the floor with a clang. He gripped the sides of the porcelain like they were a lifeline as he stared at himself in the mirror - soaking wet, hair everywhere, eyes sunken and bloodshot.

"How is this better?" he asked, more to himself and ignoring Steve. "Why am I still talking to you? Why did you show up just when I try to exorcise you from my life? I'm insane. I must be. I must be going insane."

"You're not insane," Steve told him. 

Danny chuckled low in his throat, his words, the situation was anything but funny. "Of course the thing that confirms my insanity is the thing that tells me I'm not insane."

Steve approached him from behind, watching Danny in the mirror and took hold of his shoulders. "Tell me you don't feel good, _feel better_ when we're together… you'd be lying if you did."

Danny shook his head, trying to rid himself of the cobwebs but it wasn't working. He was also turned on. Steve could see it in the bulge of his sweats. It was in the drugs, of course, but Steve believed it would had been there anyway because even if Danny didn't know it, they were meant to be. They were too hot together, on fire inside. And Steve had done so much for Danny and refused to believe it was in vain. He knew Danny needed him.

He would not stand for any rejection and Danny was going to remember that.

"You don't want me to go," Steve murmured in his ear, his hands rubbing up and down Danny's arms and making him shiver. He pushed the palm of one hand down and over Danny's wet stomach and under the elastic waistband of his sweats to begin rubbing and jerking his dick. It made Danny push his ass back against Steve and huff out a breath at the contact. He was hard in Steve's hand, needing, and his body was hot, sweating, yet still shivering from how wet he was. 

"Fuck… fuck, I shouldn't…"

"You'll do what I want you to do," Steve told him again, reiterating his control. "I'm the only one left who truly cares about you."

Danny looked down at himself, at the way his pants moved with Steve's hand inside and then he covered it with his own, stopping him, but not pulling him out and away. "I've gone too far. I need to check myself into a mental ward," he sounded astonished. 

"You need to let me take care of you. I always have your best interests at heart."

"You just tried to drown me," Danny pointed out breathily. "And before.. there was something else…" he lifted one of his hands back up, looking at the now half unwound bandaging like he forgotten it was there. "This was you," he said, as if suddenly remembering details forgotten in the fog of his drug addled mind. 

"I only hurt you when you need me to."

"Mental ward," Danny reiterated. "I need to-"

Steve took hold of Danny's hips and spun him to face him, pushing Danny's lower back into the edge of the sink and holding out the long seconds while Danny's dizzy head settled. He touched his forehead to Danny's, lifted his hands to cup Danny's face and tenderly kissed his lips. "You're only happy when you're with me. Tell me… tell me the truth… you need me… when we're together things make sense. Tell me what you really need. Why I came here, huh? Because you need me, baby. I'm here to stop you making stupid mistakes. You don't want to be alone, you just need to admit it to yourself," he peppered kisses over Danny's face and neck as he spoke and the drugs in Danny's system took hold even more; his cock harder, his mind more susceptible, his body weaker.

"I don't want you to go," Danny practically whined as the truth came out. "There are times that when you're here everything is better, so much better… but that's not every time, and it's not often enough. I don't care how much I crave you, you being in my life is ruining it." 

"I'm making it better. Danny you need to trust me. We can have what we want, we can be together all the time but you need to hold out for it. I can fix this for us. I can fix everything."

"Fix this? But you're breaking me." Danny asked, eyes glazed over.

"I can rebuild you."

" _ **Why**_ are you breaking me?"

"Because I want you," Steve answered, like it was obvious.

Danny lifted his bandaged hand to Steve's face, his fingertips exploring like a blind man, barely touching, wary but curious as he looked deep into Steve's eyes, before narrowing them and speaking softly. "It's _**you**_. You're the one that's crazy."

Steve's eyes flashed with anger of old memories, of others who had dared- 

"I am NOT crazy," he growled, hands tightening on Danny's arms to a painful level, making the other man flinch and his shoulder and muscles tighten in fear. "And you will never say that to me again," he dragged Danny back into the main room, dumping him on his fold out bed, where he struggled to lift his head.

He yanked Danny's t-shirt off and threw it aside as he then flipped him, grabbing his arms behind his back and using the frayed and unraveling bandages from around Danny's hand to tie his wrists together in a tight knot. He then ignored any of Danny's protestations and pulled down his pants to bunch at his ankles.

Getting his own hard cock back out again from the confines of his pants and using a lubricated condom that he slipped over it, he took very little care in prepping Danny beyond forcing his legs apart and spitting on his hole, using one finger to push the saliva inside. He wasted no time in lining up his dick and pushing into Danny, shushing him, stroking his hair as he yelped at the sharp pain and tightened his body against the intrusion. 

He flattened his body over Danny's, restricting his movement and breathing and spoke into his ear as he stayed still above him. "There was a time I would fuck people before I killed them. Didn't matter who they were… enemies or the loves of my life, all of them were the same. But lately it's just you. I kill people then I fuck you… fuck you then go kill people. You're the only one I fuck…"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Danny asked.

"Why don't I kill you, Danny? Why don't I move on?"

Danny whimpered as Steve rolled his hips into him, his body slackening in its rejection of Steve's cock, his body overwhelmed by the drugs and the stimulation alike. 

"You're special, Danny. You've changed me. I'm going to protect you from everything in your life. From everything that keeps you from me."

He didn't give Danny a chance to say anything and begun fucking him hard, cock driving in and out of his ass as he kept a hand planted in the middle of Danny's back to keep him down, the other holding where Danny's arms were tied. He loved seeing Danny helpless beneath him, given no choice and enjoying what Steve could do to him, despite himself. Steve came quicker than he expected, than he meant to, filling the condom inside Danny. 

He pulled out, absently noting the small amount of blood as he tore the condom from himself and flipped Danny over, his own rough and callused hand jerking Danny with little finesse.

"Why should I let you come, Danny?" Steve asked. 

"Steve, please."

"Why, baby? Tell me what I need to hear from you."

"Oh, God, oh fuck," Danny said as Steve twisted his hand just right before slowing, loosening his grasp right when Danny was ready to come.

Steve let go, braced his hands on either side of Danny's prone body and hovered about him menacingly. "You will stop all this nonsense about mental wards and changing your life and you will do everything I want."

"This is the most fucked up thing I've ever done," Danny groaned out.

"And look at you. Hard for me. Hard for our life together. Needing me to make everything better. Talk to me, Danny. Ask me. What do you want?" He trailed a feather light finger up and down Danny's dick and kept his eyes on Danny's as he leaned down and licked, following the path of his fingers and making Danny's cock twitch with need. 

"I want you to stay," Danny admitted to the ceiling.

"That's my boy," Steve smiled at him and gave him his reward. He spat on his hand and lowered his head to take in the head of Danny's cock as he pumped the shaft. He sped up, tightening his grip and using his other hand to fondle Danny's balls until he was about to come. His lips popped off from Danny's dick and he watched as the cum spurted out onto Danny's belly.

He climbed behind Danny on the bed as the smaller man curled in on himself. He loosened the binds at Danny's wrists and then wrapped himself around Danny as he began to drift.

"But what happens now?" Danny asked into the room. 

"Things will be difficult. Worse," Steve told him. "But all you have to do is lean on me to get through it and you'll see."

"See what?"

"That everything that's going wrong isn't wrong at all. It just leads you closer to me," he stroked a solitary finger down Danny's arm and watched as he passed out, looking forward to Danny hitting rock bottom and wondering, not for the first time, if he might kill Danny after all.

But one look at the sleeping man and he knew he couldn't - it hurt his heart too much to think of Danny lifeless. He needed another solution to that problem. What to do when he was done playing, when he couldn't hide in the shadows anymore...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit, the plot doesn't truly advance in this chapter, it was mostly filler and a way to get rid of Reyes. I'm putting it out there before people comment negatively about that, I'm well aware it doesn't advance much. I've suffered through a huge writers block BECAUSE it's filler and I also had no clue how to commit a murder for the longest time. 
> 
> For those who read despite not liking the subject matter, I applaud you for giving it a go, but if it's not your thing, feel free to bail out. I very much appreciate comments and kudos, but please keep the negativity to a minimum because unless it's constructive it does me no good except make me depressed and that's not fair on me. I'd like the courtesy of being able to play in my own corner and share for those who are interested. It's the same courtesy I extend in return. Of course, despite the negativity I get for writing this, it's also the fic I get the most questions about, and the most people asking when it'll be continued, so I wholeheartedly thank those of you out there who are enjoying this for your support. That means a lot to me.
> 
> I know this verse is dark, twisted and 'difficult'.... I'm writing it, trust me, I'm aware of the difficulty! It's a chore to write certain bits and I have to dig deep to find new ways to shock. I'm doing it on purpose, I'm trying to shock, and that's a hard thing to do. And I promise you, Steve will NOT get comeuppance in this. Bad wins out in the end so if that's not for you, please, please, don't put yourself through things and then blame me for it. 
> 
> It's your call, but don't say I haven't warned you. The next story is brutal. I'm serious. Danny will lose everything left in his life and it all comes to a head with Danny confronting a Steve he knows is real, only it's interrupted and forces Steve to do something drastic...


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